Steps into the Past
by Callista Gseran
Summary: This story occurs after the events in "Be'verd Kar'ta". Marin is detached for training with the Marines, and ends up learning about her past. A routine training mission goes south when Kure encounters a raiding party over one of the nearby colony worlds.
1. Chapter 1

**Tanagis V - Durza home**

It was early morning, and the sun was just starting to peek through the trees. Golden rays shone through the windows and splashed light across the worktable. Marin sighed and pushed a few strands of hair out of her face as she bent over the worktable. Her saber lay in front of her, partially disassembled as she worked on the wiring within.

Ethan had been up for a while, decompressing at the range before heading back inside to brew some _behot_. With two mugs in hand, he set out to find Marin, figuring she'd be up. He honestly wasn't surprised to find her in the workshop, and moved over to set the second mug off to the side of where she was working. " _Vaar'tur_ , lass..."

She looked up at him and smiled. " _Vaar'tur_ ..." She said softly. "Didn't mean to wake you, _Et'ika_." She sighed then. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"

"I was already up, actually...and aye. That I did." A moment's pause, then... "It has been proposed as an option, and I think it would be a good idea...that you spend some time training with the Marines as part of an exchange program."

That got her attention, and her gaze snapped upwards to meet his. The mere thought of such a thing left a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't identify. She was quiet for a moment as she mulled it over. "Might I ask the reasoning...?" She inquired after a moment. She couldn't think of an instance where such a thing had been done before.

"Well, _Mar'ika_...learning the tactics associated and how they operate could do you some good. And I can't really effectively teach you myself."

"Why not...?" She asked curiously, turning around for a moment to close up her saber's outer casing. Though, the thought had occurred to her that she might learn more about her father.

At that, he shrugged. "For starters, I'm a bit rusty...and they've no doubt developed a good few new tricks since my time, anyway."

She reached over and gripped his arm firmly. "What else...?"

"Well, Karrde and I thought it might be good for you to spend some time with them, anyway. Besides...it only makes sense, given Jarius' history."

"Aye..." She said softly. And then she grinned. "Aren't you worried they might try to recruit me...?" She asked.

Ethan chuckled a bit at that. "Would it be such a bad thing if they tried, Marin? It would certainly help prove to yourself that you're good enough."

" _Ori'haat_..." She said after a moment, taking a sip from her mug. "It will certainly be interesting..." She paused. "How long are we talking?"

"Several months, most likely." He replied evenly, not sure what reaction to expect.

Marin frowned slightly. She had a general idea of how long training should take. "And am I going all in?"

At that, he nodded before taking a long pull from his own mug. "Aye...regulation attire, appearance, everything."

She took another sip and took her saber in her free hand. " Am I allowed to bring my _jetti'kad_?"

"I believe there's a provision for that in the program, aye."

She frowned slightly. "There is? Has such a program been implemented before?*

"Not to my knowledge, _nayc_...there would have been little purpose."

"How so...?" She inquired softly.

He shrugged again. "To my knowledge, there hasn't been someone with your particular training and skill-set, before."

She nodded, but gave him a bit of a look, as if she were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Well, Marin...you've been cooped up here quite a bit recently, think it's time you got out of your comfort zone a bit again and interacted with a new group of people."

She paused then, and eyed him for several seconds over the rim of her mug. "What... exactly are you implying...?" she asked carefully. "I've had several interactions with the Marines over the last several years. Especially concerning _Kyr'tsad_.."

"I'm _implying_...that you're letting recent events get to you too much for my liking. And this program would be a good way for you to get a fresh start for the time being."

At that, she sighed. He had a point. She had been beating herself up about the whole situation. Frowning, she took another sip and looked over at him. "Have you spoke to Sharon about my Intelligence duties? I'm assuming they'll be postponed for the duration?"

Ethan nodded at that, his response even. "That I have. Everything is in place for you to do this without conflicts in your duties. But, they will all still be there should you wish to continue upon your return."

Her eyes narrowed slightly then, and she straightened. " _'Should I wish to..'_ " she murmured before her gaze snapped to his. "You really think they might try to recruit me for real..."

"It's always a possibility. And so, it's best to be prepared should that eventuality occur."

She leaned forward on the stool, propping her elbows on her knees and cupping the mug in her hands as she mulled that over. "The thought had occurred to me, _elek_. But part of me wonders if it's because of my skill-set, or my family lineage... or _both_..." She frowned then. She'd not told him yet of meeting the old man.

"If they did try recruiting you, I can assure you it would be based almost entirely on your abilities. You have a well known name, aye, but you don't expect anything because of your lineage. You'd rather earn it through your own merit. That alone should earn you a bit of extra respect."

Nodding, she took a long draw from her mug. "Ethan... I probably should have told you this before. During my travels with Ryneas, I learned a few things, about Jarius... and my family in general.."

At that, an eyebrow rose, but he wasn't going to press the point if she didn't want to volunteer information. " _Lek_?"

She nodded. " _Lek_... we had gone searching for the person who may have taught Arianna what she knows. We found him. He taught her mother, as near as we can tell." She sighed. She wasn't quite sure how to tell him. "He told me a story... of how his son had been gone for a long time. And... I didn't realize it until I saw a few things around his home." Her gaze locked to his. "Ethan... that man is my... _ba'buir_.."

Ethan listened to this in silence, waiting several moments to be sure she was finished before replying. "I see, and what are your thoughts on this?"

She shrugged, clasping her hands firmly around her mug. "It... was... unexpected, certainly. but not unwelcome."

* * *

 **Catain – Marine Recruit Depot**

Even given Ethan's assurances, Marin was still nervous. She'd arrived earlier that day, and had begun initial processing. With her, she carried very few personal possessions. Enough to fit into a small satchel. Most notable among them were her lightsaber and Jarius' tags - along with a few other items. She also carried a sealed set of orders, signed by both Master Karrde and Admiral Connors. She knew that anything else would most likely be confiscated until her training cycle was complete.

That being the case, she wasn't entirely sure how this was going to work. She knew regular Marine training could take up to six months. She frowned slightly. And Ethan had said it could be several months, at least. She sighed, and absently brushed a few strands of hair from her face as she made her way towards the intake center.

It was much like she'd expected of such a building: Plain and functional. This was a military installation after all. Squaring her shoulders, she stepped inside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. And when they had, she sighed. There was a sizable line. She'd already been issued her uniform and dogtags before coming to Catain. Connors had seen to that. And she hoped it wouldn't cause issue. Shaking her head slightly, she entered the line.

As she did so, the young man in front of her glanced back, taking quick note of her appearance, as well as the name on her tags. While young, he was still several years her senior, and had a solid 4-5 inches on her, as well. Facing forwards again, he spoke up just loud enough for her to hear. "And what exactly is a delicate thing like you doing here, eh? Shouldn't you be home trying on dresses or something?"

Biting the inside of her cheek, Marin took a deep breath. She had to remain calm. She knew not everyone hailed her _buir_ as a hero. After another second or two, she replied. "Really, I was fighting off Death Watch when I was ten..." she said in a very matter of fact tone, her gaze forward, and her voice pitched just loud enough to reach him.

That garnered a derisive snort. "Right, I forgot...you're a _Durza_. You must think that name makes you so very special and better than the rest of us. I've got news for you, girl...this training isn't for little girls that got in on their dead father's name."

At that, she rolled her eyes. "If you think that's why I'm here... you're wrong." her voice was quiet, and surprisingly even. "I don't expect anything because of who my father was..."

"We'll see about that," the man said as he sneered again, muttering in contempt as he turned around. "High and mighty prissy little girl."

Again, Marin bit her cheek, reminding herself to breath. This time, she said nothing. responding to him only seemed to make it worse. Again, the line moved forward, and she focused on that for the moment, ignoring him.

The silence made him huff and glance back for a moment, then looked to the one in front of him, who had been out of the conversation. "This what we've become now? Daycare for girls?"

At that, Marin fixed her gaze on the wall over his head. She knew what he was trying to do. She could see it in his eyes and sense it in the Force. And she was determined not to fall for it. She also knew, that her temper could, and had gotten the better of her several times. Especially where her family was concerned.

"You want to watch your mouth?" the one in front of him said as he turned around to look at him. "You may not think much of her, but I would bet a gold eagle she could mop the floor with your tail."

" _Her_?" he said as he gestured back to Marin. " _Easiest eagle I ever won._ "

That caused the corner of her mouth to twitch as she fought a grin. She locked eyes with the other young man and gave him a small nod of thanks. She really didn't want to fight the one who was goading her, _but oh was he asking for it..._

"We have a problem here?" a Sergeant at the head of the line asked as he looked down the line. Obviously, their voices had carried up to the head of the line and had gotten his attention.

Marin's eyes widened slightly at that, and she shook her head as she straightened. "No, sir. Not from me." She was trying hard not to haul off and punch the young man in front of her in the nose, and she knew the Sergeant could probably read it in her body language.

"And you, recruit?" he asked as he glared at the younger man. Marin could see in the look that the Sergeant knew exactly who had started this.

"I thought I was entering an elite fighting force," the younger man said as he had straightened up at the look. "Not a boarding school for girls who need to be tending things at home and not getting into things they shouldn't be handling."

Marin gritted her teeth against a scathing retort. "And you would know exactly _what_ about that...?" she snapped, pinning him with a glare. "You think you know who I am... and who my family is. You are _wrong_."

"Sergeant Colins," another Marine, this one with the rank insignia of a captain, called out as he walked up to the line and looked over. "We have an issue here?"

"Nothing I don't think we can't work out, Captain Ittei," the sergeant said as he looked to the officer and then back towards Marin and the young man. "Rather, nothing I don't think a matchup can't resolve. What say you, recruits?"

She took a deep breath and nodded, resisting the urge to reach for Jarius' tags. As much as she found it comforting, she felt such an action wouldn't help the situation at the moment. "I.. think, that is acceptable, Sir." she said after a moment, though her gaze lingered on the one he'd addressed as Captain Ittei for a second or two.

The Sergeant motioned the two forward and had the rest move away and then nodded to the two of them. "Anytime."

The boy, feeling glad for the chance, popped his knuckles real quick then moved in quick, arm raised back to the side of his head to throw the first punch.

Marin sighed, and rolled her shoulders for a second or two as she studied her opponent's footwork. She thought a moment and tossed her satchel to the boy who had defended her. With her hands free, she spread her feet and left her hands by her sides for the moment. A deep breath and she opened herself to the Force. Just enough to anticipate his moves.

Not that she couldn't read them. He telegraphed _horribly_ , and she found herself wondering if he'd had any kind of martial training. It didn't appear so. She continued to watch him, breathing slowly as he barreled in. When he struck forward, Marin simply sidestepped calmly. She knew that would anger him.

He stumbled after his blow missed and quickly turned to face her again, inching forward as he raised his hands in a stance and then threw a jab in her direction.

Marin continued to keep her breathing slow and even, as she could feel anger trying to creep in. Sure, she had a right to be angry, but she knew from experience that it only distracted her focus. She sidestepped again and grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm slightly before shoving him away.

He cried out at the twist and stumbled backwards this time as he regained his footing from the shove. He grumbled under his breath as he rubbed his wrist for a moment then tried to change his tactics. Feinting to the left, he tried again for a right blow to catch her in the belly, keeping his left ready for a blow to her head if he connected.

Marin sighed, and sidestepped, grabbing his right wrist and pulling firmly. This would cause him to stumble past her. As he did so, she blocked his other hand before moving to sweep his legs from under him.

At that, she rolled her eyes. "Come on, _shabuir_..." she muttered. "Surely you can do better than that...or are you in shock over a girl kicking your _shebs_..." she hadn't realized she'd slipped into _Mando'a_.

He got up slowly, glaring angrily at her and muttering, "What did you just call me?"

At that, her lips twitched. "It means 'Jerk' she clarified, her gaze sliding towards Captain Ittei for a moment before she moved in, circling him for a moment before ducking around him and driving an elbow towards his kidneys.

She watched as he stumbled from the blow, and just shook her head. She wasn't really proud of what she was about to do, but her family's honor was on the line. Closing her eyes briefly, and breathing some words in _Mando'a_ , she gripped his shoulder and took his feet from under him again. This allowed her to snake her left arm across his throat as he slid to his knees. When he had, she began applying slight but firm pressure, slowly cutting off his air.

He struggled against it, hands trying to reach around behind him to get a hold of her. But he couldn't grab her, and resorted to trying to pry her arm loose around his neck. Even then, he was failing, for Marin's arm was almost like a vise, holding him in place. Within a few moments, his eyes started to roll back and he slipped into unconsciousness.

The sergeant, watching all of this, walked over and rested a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough, recruit. Any longer, and it becomes something else."

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Marin let go and pushed to her feet. "Yes, Sir." she said softly. "I had no intention of going that far." She sighed again and whispered something under her breath in _Mando'a_.

The Sergeant looked up at Ittei and had gotten a nod from the officer before he called two other enlisted men over. "Carry him to the med building, make sure he's okay when he wakes up. Then send him on the first shuttle out of here."

That got Marin's attention, and she frowned. "You're sending him home." She couldn't say she was terribly surprised. He reminded her far too much of the stories Jarius and Ethan had told her about J'oran. _'But would that stop him from behavior like that?'_ she doubted it.

"He might get another chance, but it won't be in my training unit," Ittei said as he looked at the young man get carried away. "I won't abide anyone that has issues with his teammates. If he can't work and train alongside them without causing trouble, how is it going to be in a combat situation?"

She nodded at that, knowing all too well what might happen. And she was sure he did too. "I understand," she said softly, yet firmly as she turned to the young man who had defended her to reclaim her satchel.

"Let get back to this," Ittei commented as he nodded to the other personnel there. "Get these recruits checked in, briefing in ten minutes."

Marin blinked then, but nodded, accepting her satchel back before she moved back to the line. It seemed that everyone had relaxed a bit. And the line moved faster too. It wasn't quite five minutes later that she'd made it through the line. When asked to fill out the standard paperwork, Marin just shrugged and informed the officer that she had done so. She then presented her sealed orders, signed by Steffan Karrde and the appropriate Cataani officers.

The sergeant, who had overseen the processing, looked over the orders, looked at her, then read the orders again. He nodded softly at this and motioned for the captain to come over. Ittei walked over and looked over the order sheet that the sergeant handed him. Like the NCO, he read it over a few times and looked at her. "Everything else check?" he asked Colins.

"Aye sir," the NCO said as he looked at her.

Marin stood and waited while they looked over her orders. They were genuine. However, the situation was anything _but_ normal. She looked at the Sergeant for a moment before her gaze went to Ittei. "Sir...? Is there a problem...?" she asked softly.

"No," Ittei said as he looked over her orders again. "I know some of your reputation, Recruit Durza, but I'm still curious as to _why_ you're here."

She gave him a somewhat curious look at that, and then a slight smile. "I could explain if you wish, but I don't feel it's something to be discussed here." She shrugged slightly and absently brushed a few strands of hair from her face. Her normally long hair had been cut, but was still long enough to put up in a manner acceptable to being in uniform.

"Another time," Ittei said as he handed her the orders and gestured towards a set of doors. "Briefing room is in there. We'll assemble in five minutes."


	2. Chapter 2

Having finished the preliminary briefing with the group, Ittei was going over individual files of the personnel that were there for the advanced training. There was one file in particular that he wanted answers on and, even having glanced over the orders before the briefing, he still had certain issues with it until some questions could be answered. He was reviewing the sparse file in question when the NCO knocked on the door to his office.

"Sir," the NCO said as he nodded outside, "Durza is waiting outside."

"Send her in," the captain said as he was still looking over the file.

Outside the office, Marin sat and waited. She had to work hard to control her urge to fidget. Oh, she knew she wasn't in trouble. He probably just wanted more details. Shaking her head at herself, she stood and smoothed her uniform tunic as she gave the Sergeant a nod. Then, she turned on her heel and knocked politely on the frame of the open door. When she saw his nod, she entered, and came to a stop. "You sent for me, sir?"

"I did," Ittei said as he finished looking over the last of only three pages in the file. "You know that this is training in advanced combat tactics, specifically special operations techniques. But here is where I have issues that I would like to settle," he held up the folder that he just closed and tossed in front of him on the desk. It had her name stamped on the corner of the top flap.

"You're younger than our normal recruitment age range," he started to say, looking up at her and starting to hold up the orders she had presented to read over them again. "You've not had any formal basic training, no training that is known in squad-based maneuvers. Yet here you are, with orders to include you into my training group." He looked up at her then and looked over her very carefully. "I know your name. Knew your father well, I would think. And I know you've had training, that much was certain in the thrashing you handed that upstart in the lobby. So, tell me why I should blindly follow these orders and let you continue?"

Marin blinked in surprise and gazed back at him as she unconsciously chewed on her lower lip. "Sir... I was under the impression that I would be receiving the same basic training all Marines do before moving onto advanced tactics." She sighed. After a moment, she took a breath and continued. "If I may, sir. I wouldn't want you to blindly follow them. I wouldn't feel right if you did." She paused, weighing carefully what she was going to say next. "I have absolutely no issue with going through the exact same basic training that all Marines do." She looked at him squarely. "Sir, I am not looking for any favors or favoritism. I came here to learn. Because I _want_ to. And because my teachers feel it would be of benefit to me. If that means sticking it out through a full training rotation... I have every intention of doing so, Sir."

He looked at her closely, then picked up the file and flipped to the middle page. "According to this, you've already experienced close quarters combat in open field and urban situations, correct?"

"Correct, Sir." she replied after a moment. "Both through training exercises... and the engagement on Galan..." She was relatively certain he'd heard about it. Word tended to travel fast.

"Anywhere else that isn't mentioned on here?" he asked, still looking at the page.

Marin frowned for a moment, wondering why the two most recent engagements hadn't made it into her file. She took a breath and met his gaze. "Several months ago, I took part in a raid on Corsucant. We had evidence that pointed to a mole highly placed in the Republic military. Our goal was to take him down." She paused. "We did, but we also discovered while on-planet that a group of Sith and Death Watch had infiltrated as well.." She paused again and sighed. "I also had some experience with close quarters combat on Bestine VI..." She wasn't overly happy about telling him, but figured it was better to be completely honest. "I had been tracking what we thought was a _kyr'tsad_ at the time, and... he got the drop on me." She sighed and looked away in embarrassment.

Ittei looked up at that bit of information and looked at her in a new perspective. Actual combat experience would be a plus. Most of the combat that the Cataani military had experienced lately had been seen mainly by the naval forces. Some marine units had seen action in the outlying systems. Those personnel were training up other units that hadn't seen combat action yet. "So, you've seen actual combat action, good. Might not be as bad a situation as I figured then."

He looked over the orders again. "This Ethan I don't recognize, but Master Karrde's signature I readily accept along with the admiral in charge of personnel. Quite the endorsements."

She looked at him oddly for a moment. "Captain, I will tell you this. I've dealt with far more in the way of combat and the like than anyone my age should have to." She met his gaze again for a moment "Ethan Beviin was the Mandalorian who... along with Master Karrde found my father after his... crusade. He was my father's mentor in the Mando ways, and mine as well."

He nodded at this and placed the orders into her file and closed it. "We're assembling in a few hours back in the lobby and then heading for the spaceport. We'll ship out to Catain and spend a week getting acquainted and running basic maneuvers. Then we'll be loading up and ship out from the yards for special-purpose training."

At that she nodded, though she was a bit surprised at his rather sudden acceptance of the situation. She'd fully expected to go through a full training rotation like any other recruit. "Understood, Sir. Will there be anything else?"

"That's all, Private Durza," he said, picking up the file again and making a notation on the first page.

"Have your gear ready in the lobby by 1400 hrs. We'll be moving out not long after that."

"Yes, Sir." she replied firmly, bracing to attention for a moment before she saluted. When he'd returned it, she dropped hers and then spun on her heel to exit his office. She had to admit. She wasn't used to this much structure... but she knew it would help her focus.

* * *

 **Catain ** _ _-__** Main Marine Barracks**

Marin was still shaking slightly from adrenaline as she sat down. She'd been assigned to a room with the only other female recruit. It surprised her there weren't more. Especially considering people like Master Karrde's youngest. She frowned slightly. Due to the nature of the situation, she'd been given permission to make one holocom call. It took a few moments, but she carefully entered Ethan's direct frequency.

Ethan was cleaning the armory when his holocom went off. Frowning, he fished the device out before answering calmly.

" _Et'ika_...?" she was suddenly flustered. "I... thought you should know. Something happened when I arrived at the intake center on Catain."

At that, an eyebrow rose, but his voice was steady for the moment. _"Is that so...?"_

Marin nodded, and chewed nervously on her lower lip. "One of the other recruits... decided to take issue with the fact I was a _dalyc_... and a Durza.." Her face twitched slightly.

Ethan sighed, taking a moment before responding evenly. " _And this has been...resolved, I hope?"_

"Aye..." she said softly. "Not how I would have liked. But, it left me wondering something."

 _"Lek...? And what is that?"_

She frowned and rubbed at a sore spot on her arm. "From how he was talking... it made me wonder if he might have been a _Kyr'tsad_ sympathizer..."

Frowning in turn, he shrugged at that. _"It is...always possible, of course."_

She swore softly. "It... bothers me that he got so close to joining up with the Cataani forces... and makes me wonder how many moles there are.."

 _"Aye, girl...if there's already been an incident, I'd say keep a good eye out for any inconsistencies while you're there."_

She frowned slightly. "Aye, there could be another incident.."

Sighing, he nodded. _"My thoughts exactly. Even so, I wouldn't worry too much... if there's another incident, you've got quite a few good Marines around you."_

She smiled slightly. "And... it seems I've made a bit of an impression already. Between that incident and the unusual nature of my orders, it raised a few eyebrows."

That elicited a slight chuckle. _"I'm not surprised, Mar'ika."_

" _Nayc_...?" she asked lightly, giving him a bit of a look.

 _"Nayc."_ He replied evenly, continuing after a moment. _"Things going smoothly, otherwise?"_

She nodded at that. "Well enough. The training's not too different from what you taught me when I was younger, so it wasn't too much of an adjustment. Though, there's only one other girl here in the training platoon.."

 _"It does vary from term to term, but...I'd be lying if I said the Marines wasn't a mostly male branch of the Cataani military."_

Marin gave him a slightly confused look. "Do you know why?"

He shrugged. _"Not particularly, nayc...but the ratio does seem to be much more skewed than the Navy, for instance."_

Chewing on her bottom lip, she thought about it. "Maybe... it's got something to do with direct combat?"

 _"It is certainly possible, aye. Also would not surprise me if most families only pass their Military traditions on to their Sons."_

Again, she nodded. "I did notice that a good portion of the Cataani Knights were male. I think I only saw perhaps four that were female." They continued talking for a few more minutes before she shut down the channel and turned in for the night.

* * *

 **Two d** **ays earlier – Tanagis V Colony**

It had been several weeks since Korriban. Marin was still trying to come to grips with everything that has happened. Deep down, she knew it wasn't her fault that Ryneas and the girl had been taken. But she still felt... _responsible_. She wasn't entirely sure whose idea it had been, but a week ago, Master Karrde and Ethan had approached her with a new... _assignment_. She was to enter into an exchange program with the Cataani Marines. Marin wasn't even sure if such a thing has been done before. _Well, there was a first time for everything_. And so, she found herself once again sitting on a bench in the central square of the colony. She wore not her usual tunics and skirt, but the fatigues of a Cataani Marine. Her hair had been trimmed and put up in a bun at the nape of her neck.

Since returning, Aran had kept himself quite well occupied helping out around the colony with the average day-to-day tasks in addition to maintaining the defense training regimen. And so, he'd taken up a habit of wandering a patrol route through the place a few times a day. It was on his way back home after one of these that he happened to pass Marin, walking right by before his brain fully registered who she was past the physical differences in her appearance. More than that, though...he couldn't sense her any more than the next Colonist. And so, frowning a bit, he turned on his heel and walked back to come to a stop just off the side of the bench she was occupying. Even given those concerns, however, he managed to start a conversation quite lightly. " _Su'cuy gar_ , Marin...quite the intimidating look you've got going there. Trying to scare someone off?"

At his wording, she glanced up, and upon seeing who it was, she released her force presence a bit. " _Ceta_...I've been busy since we got back." Absently smoothing her uniform tunics, she scooted over on the bench. After a pause, she continued. "I've joined the Marines as part of an exchange program..."

An eyebrow rose at that, and he absently leaned on the back of the bench. "I see...learning more advanced combat tactics, are we?"

"Aye..." She replied, straightening slightly. "I ship out for training in the morning." She sighed slightly. "I just hope I can learn what Master Karrde wants me to." She frowned then. "I know it'll probably bring up my father..."

"You'll do alright, lass..." Came the simple reply after a moment, and he shrugged. "Besides...nothing wrong with following in gar _buir's_ footsteps a bit, _nayc_? Who knows, perhaps it'll even earn ye a bit more respect right off the bat."

"If it does, that's a good thing.. But I don't expect special treatment because of it." She shrugged slightly. "Just out of my comfort zone a bit ... Which is probably the point of the whole thing."

Aran chuckled a bit at that. "Good mindset to have going in, that." He offered an arm, then. "Just try not to overthink it, _lek_? And...good luck."

She grinned. "Who knows. Maybe they'll try to recruit me for real," she gripped his arm firmly then. "The training will last about six months before I'm released to go on missions with them, so it could be a year before I get back home." She eyed him closely for a moment. "How are things here?"

"Pretty well, all things considered. Still adjusting to everything...but apparently, I've been helpful enough that they decided to put me in charge of running things anytime Arron is attending to business elsewhere."

Her eyebrows rose. " _Ori'haat? That's kandosii!_ " She paused. "How are things with you and Nau'ul?"

Laughing softly, he nodded. " _Ori'haat_ , lass. And things with Nau'ul have been surprisingly good, actually. She's having a rather hard time adjusting, but...that's to be expected." A slight grin crossed his face, then. "If things keep progressing as they are now, though, I might even have some news for you by the time you get back."

Her eyebrow rose slightly at that. "I look forward to it, then..." She said softly. "Any word from Arron?"

He shrugged. "Not particularly, just the usual conversations regarding the state of the Colony."

She sighed softly and absently played with Jarius' tags. "I hope... That maybe I'll gain some insight into _ner buir's_ life before I met him.."

At that, Aran smiled slightly and gently rested a hand on her shoulder. "I think you will, Marin. And to that end...unless there's anything else, I think I'll let you get back to say your goodbyes to Jarod."

She grinned slightly then and gave him a look. "He only just got back from his own mission..."

He chuckled, then. "All the more reason to spend as much time with him as you can, _nayc_?"

"True enough..." she replied. "Still feels strange though. Never thought I would find myself in Cataani uniform..."

"Strange things happen, lass...best we can do is roll with everything thrown our way and hope for the best."

She laughed lightly. "I suppose so. I did get some rather odd looks from a few of the colonists though. I'm not sure they recognized me.."

It was his turn to laugh, then, and his reply was light. "Even took me a few moments for it to register, honestly."

At that, she ducked her head. " _Lek_... it was a big change. But part of the exchange agreement was going all-in. Uniform, training, all of it. And I wasn't in any way expecting special treatment based on who my father was."

"Nothing wrong with that...given time you might even learn to like the look, _nayc_?"

She gave him a sideways look and punched him lightly in the arm. "What are you saying, that I might forgo my assignment to Jedi Intelligence to join the Marines?"

At that, Aran smirked ever so slightly, absently rubbing the spot she'd hit. " _You never know..._ "

Her eyes narrowed, and she stood up, coming nose to nose with him - well her nose was about level with his breastbone - so she looked _up_ at him. But, she did cut a rather imposing figure. "You.. might have something there..." she said softly. "When Master Karrde suggested it... I almost felt a prompting.. a _need_ to do it. I can't explain it."

A slight nod, and he lightly rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "Things do tend to happen for a reason, Marin. Sometimes, it just doesn't go the way we expect it to." Pausing for a moment, he sighed softly. "You will be missed around here, though, I think. But...it'll be good for you."

"You think so..?" she asked softly.

" _Elek_..." He replied evenly, offering his arm again as a slight smile grew across his face. "And do try and plant a few Marines on their _shebs_ for me, _lek_?"

That got her attention, and she looked at him closely. " _Lek_... why?"

He shrugged. "Oh, just need to be sure they take you seriously...you are a bit small, after all."

That earned him a punch in the arm, and another look. "Is that so..?"

Laughing softly, he nodded. "Indeed...but, that can also be an advantage. Do make sure that's the case, lass."

She smiled slightly. "I can do that..."

Smiling in return for a moment, he spoke again softly. "Well, I'll let you get back...good luck, Marin. And... _re'turcye mhi_."

For a moment, she gripped his arm, and met his gaze before she spoke. "Make sure _Kyr'tsad_ don't invade while I'm gone, _lek_?"

"I'll certainly do my best." He replied evenly, gripping her arm in return.


	3. Chapter 3

**Present Day – Catain – Fleet Yards**

"Captain," the shuttle pilot called back into open hold, "We're about three minutes away from the dock."

"Okay, last check," Ittei said as he looked over the marine squad. "We are guests on this ship while we're going through this training exercise. They've got certain procedures for the different conditions that they have to operate under and we're going to have to abide by those while we're onboard. Everyone copy that?" Most of the group, including their guest nodded softly at the question and Captain Ittei walked up towards the cockpit to look out towards their arrival.

Marin listened closely to Captain Ittei as he spoke, and then nodded her understanding. Ethan had done his best to prepare her for this, but she was still nervous. And she was pretty sure that having a member of Jedi Intelligence aboard a Cataani ship of the wall wasn't normal. With that in mind, she was being a bit overly cautious with her interactions. But, that did nothing to sate her curiosity. After a moment's hesitation, she rose to her feet and followed after the Captain. When she reached the flight cabin, she peeked out through the transparisteel and gasped. The ship was _huge_. And to her eyes it was beautiful.

Ittei heard the gasp and looked over at her. "First time seeing a warship this close?"

She grinned nervously, but nodded. "Yeah. Never really been around ships much larger than light freighters or cargo haulers.." she admitted after a moment as she traced the vessel's lines with her eyes. "I... don't know a lot about the class, but aren't the Nighthawks billeted aboard?" Sure, there were a ton of questions she wanted to ask... _but what was she allowed to..?_

"The hangars can hold four of them, if the mission calls for them," the captain told her. "But those fighters are usually deployed on their home carriers, which are much larger than this. Normally, the hangar space would be used for assault shuttles like this one along with our support gunships. About...how many pilot, same number?"

"Aye, sir," the pilot said as he started to line up towards the back of the ship. "Its tight space in the hangar of these things. We usually have to do several sim runs and have to ace them before we're allowed to practice landing on the real thing."

Nodding, Marin filed that information away for the moment as she watched the approach carefully. She could only imagine what it felt like to fly one of the Nighthawks. Maybe some day she'd get the chance. She chewed her lip for a moment and then leaned forward slightly as she noticed something odd closer to the hangar bay doors. After a moment, it vanished.

"Through the dock magcon," the pilot said as they entered the drydock area and closed in on the hanger doors, adjusting his throttle controls to drop power. "One minute." He could already see the marker lights that he was directed towards and saw hangar personnel giving him hand signals.

For the moment, Marin remained in the control cabin, watching over the pilot's shoulder as he brought the small craft closer. She'd flown bigger ships, sure, but part of her wanted to experience flying smaller craft. She then felt the small bump as the shuttle settled to the deck in it's assigned berth.

"Here you go, captain," the pilot said as he powered down the shuttle's systems.

"Enjoyed the flight," Ittei commented as he walked back into the passenger area. "Marines, prepare to disembark. I'll hand out bunk assignments once we're on the deck."

Shaking herself slightly, Marin followed behind him. She wasn't entirely sure what to do here. So, she gathered her gear and fell into line with the rest of the Marines. As she reached the end of the shuttle's boarding ramp, she paused. A feeling... almost like.. . _coming home_ welled up in her chest. It was strange, because she knew she'd never been on a ship such as this. Perhaps it was Jarius' spirit manifesting again. She sighed softly and traced her thumb over his tags for a moment before tucking them back under her standard issue fatigues. She wore the same uniform as the other Marines, though hers bore no rank except that of Private. She was fine with that, really. She was here to learn.

There was an officer that walked out into the hangar area as the marines were getting sorted and walked over towards Ittei. Marin noticed that he has the same design jumpsuit that she had seen Master Karrde's daughter, Catherine, wearing the one time they had met. Though the main differences she could see was the red band on the sleeve and the two bars that were on the uniform neck.

"My apologies for not being here sooner," he said as he shook hands with Ittei. "I'm the ship's exec. Captain Rightman is seeing to our final preps and asked that I bring you up. We've got the crew bunks just off the hangar prepped and ready for you."

"Per your request, we've got a separate cabin forward of there. They're not much."

"I remember how space can be cramped on this class," Ittei commented as he looked at Marin. "Durza, you can follow him and get squared away and meet me back here before I check in with the captain."

Marin's head came up at that, and then she belatedly realized that she was the only woman in the squad. Mentally she shrugged as her gaze went to Ittei. "Yes, sir. Understood." she replied evenly, hefting her gear bag over her shoulder. For once. she'd left her _beskar'gam_ and the majority of her weapons belt at home. The only thing she'd brought along from it was her saber. She was... _very_ glad to have it back. The replacement she'd constructed before they'd left for their previous mission.. hadn't felt the same.

* * *

Ittei had invited Marin with him as they ascended up the stairwells through the decks and arrived at the main corridor for what was labeled as Deck A. He motioned her to come with him and they started walking along the corridor.

Curious, she followed behind him, looking around a bit as she did so. As different as it was to be in these surroundings, she still couldn't shake the strange feeling of... belonging. She thought to mention it to Ittei. She wasn't sure if it was the right time or place. "Excuse me, Captain.." she said politely as they made their way along the corridor. "I'm... not sure if I should share this.. but when I came on board I felt a sense of belonging. Almost like I'd come home.." She shrugged, not really wanting to get into a philosophical discussion on the matter.

"Oh?" Ittei asked as he turned and looked at her as they proceeded down the corridor. "Not sure exactly how you mean that, recruit."

She shrugged, not really sure what to make of it, either. "I don't really have an explanation for it, either, Sir." she admitted after a moment. "Just a feeling I couldn't explain."

"I'm sorry to say that I don't recall if you're father spent any time on one of these ships or not," he said as they stopped before a small set of doors. "In that regard, I'm not sure if he was still in the service when this class was commissioned or not."

Nodding, Marin paused beside him, her gaze going towards the right of the entry. She'd seen many sections of the ship denoted with a sign near the entry, but she didn't see one. At that, she frowned slightly. "Where are we..?" she asked after a moment.

"The bridge," Ittei said as he walked forward enough for the doors to start to open. Kure's bridge, like the rest of the ship, was a small space compared to most other ships. It was a narrow space with consoles along both sides, a central console in the forward area, looking towards a set of three wide viewports arrayed in a semi-circle. Through them, they could see the drydock area, but Marin also noticed that there were holographic images being displayed on the viewports as well, showing various kinds of information for anyone who wasn't sitting at a console. The ceiling, like most of the rest of the ship, was low, but also had commpads hanging from them at different locations. She looked towards the back and could see a small plotting table taking up a good portion of the rear section of the compartment. And just about center of the entire area was a singular chair, with an officer standing just in front of it watching over the entire workings of the bridge crew.

That made sense, and she nodded as she stepped into the compartment behind him, automatically scanning the area. She kept her hands loose and ready out of habit. As she looked around, she noticed the holographic display over some of the windows and she hid a smile. For as little space as the bridge had, it was an excellent idea. What drew her attention next was the tactical repeater at the rear of the compartment. Perhaps she'd have a chance to study it later. For now, she kept pace with Ittei, a step or two behind him as the pair made their way forward of the entry and towards the area in front of that central chair. It was hard for Marin to keep her gaze from the viewports, but she managed.

"Sorry I didn't make it down," the officer said without turning for a moment as he was watching over everything. Then he finally turned and shook hands with Ittei. The uniform, like all the others she'd seen onboard, had only the difference of four bars on the neck. "I'm Jonathan Rightman, ship's CO. They told me you were coming onboard and I guess they wanted to give you some training at the same time we're about to run a shakedown to see if we're ready to go."

 _'Shakedown...'_ Marin thought. And then she remembered. The Sith attack several weeks back. Her left hand clenched into a fist for a moment before she relaxed it. She glanced at Ittei for a moment, as if asking permission. "Excuse me, sir," she said, addressing Rightman. "I'm unfamiliar with ships of this class. What, in general is involved in a shakedown?" she hoped it wasn't a question that would make her look like an idiot.

"And you are?"

She cleared her throat nervously, and glanced at Ittei again, hoping she hadn't gotten in over her head. "Marin Durza, sir. I'm a Recruit with Ittei's Marine detachment." She didn't add any other details; she knew it wasn't the time or place.

"Its okay, Durza," Ittei told her as he looked to Rightman. "She attached to us from the Jedi, learning techniques from us."

Rightman nodded understanding then. "I see. Well, Ms. Durza, a shakedown is usually when we go and make sure that everything is in proper working order. Usually, its done with a newly-built ship or one that has undergone serious repairs. In our case, its the latter. We just finished up about a month or so of essential repairs after we had to slug our way out of Bastion."

She blushed slightly and then nodded as Rightman answered her question. She didn't know much about their mission to Bastion, and thought it better not to ask. "Well, then I hope everything was repaired well." she said evenly as she clasped her hands behind her back to stop the urge to fidget. She knew she had nothing to worry about. "How long does it usually take..?" she asked after a moment.

"It all depends on what needs to be tested," the captain told her as he looked over to his exec walking up.

"Sir, we're all set. Dock has given us clearance for departure."

"All stations standby," Rightman said as he looked back to Ittei and Marin. "You're welcome to stay here and watch. Nothing special, though."

That got Marin to grin slightly. "Thank you, Sir." She moved off to the side slightly where she hoped she wouldn't be in the way, but where she could still see the forward viewports.

Rightman was all business now as he centered himself in the compartment and looked to all the stations, stopping at the forward one. "Helm, clear moorings, standby on repulsorlifts."

"Aye sir," the officer at the helm said as he started to adjust his controls and threw several switches off to his right. "Moorings cleared. Repulsorlifts coming up to thirty percent." Slowly, they felt the soft thrum through the ship that told Rightman that the engines were coming online now. "Magcon field?"

"Dropped," another officer said to his right. "We are cleared aft."

"Reverse thrusters," Rightman ordered. "Five second burst."

Marin kept her position and listened intently to the cross-talk as the bridge crew slowly began to clear _Kure_ of her moorings. To a degree, it reminded Marin of what she read about in books about sailing ships. She supposed the same general concept applied here. For now, she simply watched and listened, her gaze on the forward viewports.

It took a few moments, because Rightman wanted to go slow and careful, but drydock started drifting away as Kure was backing out of the slot and into open space. "We're cleared from drydock, captain."

"Very well, Kuroda," the captain acknowledge as he looked back towards another console. "Confirm exit route, signals. Helm, rotate port ninety degrees and light the engines."

"We're cleared for route Blue, level Three," the signals officer told him. Right behind him, the man at the plot table called out next. "Recommend bearing 268, captain."

"Helm, rudder amidship at ninety-two degrees from start of the turn," Rightman ordered, remembering the way that the docks had arranged the entry and exit routes. "Z-axis plus fifteen hundred meters, all ahead one third."

Marin nodded then. Her astrogation was a slight bit rusty, but she was able to mentally plot the direction of their course. After a moment, she looked across at Ittei and gave him a bit of a smile in thanks.

Ittei nodded and looked around himself. It would be a while before they were going to get started. He knew the rough plan that _Kure_ was going to go by and he had already briefed his squad on what was going to happen. The time passed smoothly, listening in to regular chatter on the bridge, reports coming in and being acknowledged.

"Outer dock marker cleared," the man at the plot table called from the back. "We are free and clear to navigate, captain."

"Very well," Rightman said as he checked the chrono on the wall...they were ahead of schedule. "Helm, course 044 by 060. Ahead two-thirds."

Marin listened for a moment before she slipped away from Ittei and went to have a look at the tactical plot at the rear of the bridge.

"Aye, sir, ahead two-thirds," the helmsman acknowledged as Rightman reached up to one of the comm panels and punched in a key code. "Bridge to Engineering, report."

"She's holding fine and steady," he heard over the intercom. "I have the reactor cores at eighty five percent and all systems are holding. We can push to one hundred percent on your order."

"Keep it in check until we've made our jump to the second proving stage, Chief. We'll see how we do then. Bridge out."

Marin perked up slightly at that, and looked across at Ittei for a moment as she hung back from the tactical plot. She could still see the flickering holograms above it, though, and she watched as the markers for Catain and Cataan slipped away.

Rightman turned around and walked back to check the plot to make sure of their position and made a few calculations in his head. "We're just about done with the engine testing. All that's left is to run at flank from this point," he indicated a spot on their course that the navigator had already marked, "to our jump point. We'll jump to the outer colony system at Collier and we'll start working on our other system tests."

A nod was Marin's only response for the moment. She'd never been to the Collier Colony, and was... looking forward to it. A chance to see something new.

"Sir," the navigator mentioned as he looked at another point. "We're getting close to checkpoint bravo."

"Thank you," Rightman said as he looked over to his exec. "MTC been notified?"

"They're tracking us now, waiting for us to start the next test before we finish the engine testing. All systems check out."

"Very well," the captain said as he looked towards Marin. "Do you know much about this class of ship?"

She frowned then. "Not really, no, sir..." she admitted after a moment. She had hoped to learn a bit more before starting the actual exchange program, but there hadn't been time. It was almost as if Master Karrde and Ethan _wanted_ her a bit off-balance. _But would they do that..?_ Perhaps they were testing her in some manner.

"We're pretty heavily armed and armored," he told her as they stood there for a few moments, behind him, the viewports were starting to be covered by armor plating. The holographic displays were still there, soon joined by a visual feed from the scanners as if the viewports were still uncovered. "But our primary role is recon and spec ops. You noticed that our hull was a matte black when you arrived."

"Aye, I did, sir..." she said evenly. "I would think, that would be to minimize reflection of light and to help in hiding the ship from the naked eye."

"And it partially helps protect us from most sensors," he told her as he turned around and looked towards the forward screens. "Our engines, when we're running quiet, are switched to a preset that tunes them to a EM range that is hard to see from long range. But most military scanning systems can work through most of that."

Nodding, she frowned slightly. "And the armor plating over the viewports..?"

"We have a system that gives us an additional edge, but looking through the viewports is blurred when we use it, so we use visual scanners when that's in place. XO?"

"We're rigged for silent running," the exec said from the tactical station. "MTC reports that their track of us is intermittent. They're ready for the second phase of the test."

"Then let us begin," Rightman said as he looked to Marin with a bit of a smile. "Engage cloaking device." A few moments later, the lights dimmed in the compartment, the main white lights going offline and the bridge started to be awash in a soft blue light now to go along with the lighted consoles.

Marin was silent for the moment, considering what Rightman had said. When the lighting changed, her eyes widened for a moment. Hesitant, she opened herself to the Force as she tried to get a sense of the bridge crew. They were focused, and ready. 'Cloaking... device..?' her thoughts skipped a second or two and she frowned. She knew the technology was possible, but had no idea that it was viable. Now, she had her answer.

"It works like a shield generator system," the captain explained to her. "Outside the ship, we're completely invisible to the eye. With our adjustments to the engines, we're practically invisible to scanners too. We still have to be careful about any emissions from us, so we have to rely on our visual and passive scanners. Active scans, while they won't reveal our exact location, will let others know that we're in the area."

"Aye..." she said softly, her gaze traveling around the bridge for a moment as she studied some of the systems status panels for a moment. She then thought for a moment. "If an engine or other system was damaged it would make it difficult to use the cloak effectively, yes?"

Rightman nodded solemnly at that. "That happened to one of our sister ships that was with us over Bastion. As I said, we have to keep a close eye on our systems."

Marin was silent for a moment then. She'd heard bits and pieces of that.. at least that a couple ships had returned heavily damaged.

The captain looked around the bridge and checked with several stations as they moved along. "Disengage the cloak and secure from silent running. Prep for hyperspace."

Marin's gaze slid to Ittei for a moment, speculative. She'd been on several missions before, with Ethan.. and even Jarius before his death. But this... She'd never been on a ship of the wall before.

"MCA reports show that the cloak is working perfectly," the exec said as he looked over from the signals station. "No traces of our passage."

"Jump prep complete," the helm called as the lighting on the bridge returned to normal as the cloaking device was shut down. Rightman acknowledged and made the announcement that they were fixing to leave the system.

"No trace...?" she whispered, almost under her breath. To her mind, that seemed... incredible. A faint frown creased her forehead as she kept out of the way near Ittei and studied the tactical plot.

The jump was pretty standard, nothing special to it at all as the starlines appeared through the viewports. Rightman nodded to the exec and gave him the bridge and started towards the doors on the starboard side with Ittei and Marin in tow. "We've got several hours before we arrive," he told them as they entered the corridor. "Should give you enough time to do some prep for your exercises."

Marin followed behind Ittei, absently tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her left ear. She still wasn't used to wearing her hair up in the manner that was required in the Cataani military service. Though, she had to admit, it made her hair less of a target. She was lost in thought, and only avoided running into the edge of the hatchway on pure instinct.

"We're supposed to coordinate orbital insertions with you," Ittei mentioned as they stopped at the first set of doors on their left. Rightman punched in a code that opened them and led them into a small office area, taking a seat behind a desk with datapads arranged over it. "It'll give us a good way to test the new shields, so it'll work out well on the scheduling."

Marin followed behind them, and fell into an at ease position for the moment. Ittei had briefed her on general things, but she was curious. With a glance to Ittei again, she asked. "What's involved with an orbital insertion, Sir..?"

Rightman nodded at the question and leaned back in his chair. "Normally, our shields can be set to a more aerodynamic configuration that allows us to enter most atmospheres with the shields up and less resistance upon entry. Since our cloaking system works along the same lines as a shield system, we should be able to enter cloaked with much if any interference."

"Once the ship is into the atmosphere," Ittei added in. "We egress in the assault shuttle, following the gunships, and head for the target. With Kure flying low enough when we launch, we should be able to avoid detection until we're right on them and the gunships area already into the attack."

Marin nodded as she thought that over. "It would maintain the element of surprise, certainly," she said after a moment as she visualized what the run might look like in her head.

"Its a concept that we've practiced on a regular basis," Ittei told her as he looked to the captain. "But we've never had to actually carry out such an operation against a real objective."

She looked over at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. "And are we now...?" she asked after a moment.

"This is a training run," the marine told her, understanding her question. "Ours may be a combat unit, but we're in a training cycle right now. The only way we're going to be called to active status is if there is no option."

"Also," Rightman added. "This is our first run since we've been in drydock for a while for repairs. The ship took a pounding over the Imperial capital trying to get out of the system and we've had to repair and replace a lot of systems."

She nodded at that and accepted his explanation for the moment. She hoped she wasn't asking too many questions... whether she was attached for training or not. At that point, Marin chewed on her lip for a moment before she made a decision. This time, she addressed her question to Rightman, straightening from her "at ease" posture for a moment. "Sir... I apologize if my question is too... forward. I was wondering why you were so open with me earlier regarding how Kure conducts such operations. I know I'm attached for training, but I wasn't expecting you to share such details." She shrugged slightly and looked at Ittei for a moment out of the corner of her eye.

Rightman nodded at this and steepled his hands as he turned in his chair. "Ms. Durza, your reputation precedes you onboard this ship as far as I'm concerned. I do keep in touch with other officers and word does get around about people sometimes. I've been told that you are a person who can be trusted and does show extreme loyalty to those you serve with. I've had dealings with your teachers before and know that, you being one of their students, speaks for itself."

At that, she blinked and then blushed ever so slightly. "I..." she paused as if trying to make sense of that for a moment or two. When she had, she nodded at him and smiled slightly. "Thank you, Sir. That... means a lot."

"You're welcome," the captain said as he leaned forward and picked up a datapad. "Well, I'm sure you two have things to do before we arrive in the system and start to do our tests in earnest."


	4. Chapter 4

**_Kure_ – Hangar**

Even though there wasn't much that the Marines could do during the hyperspace transit, there was still activity for Kure's guests in the hangar bay. Ittei had a rotation setup for groups to use the outer perimeter of the hangar bay for PT while the crews for the shuttles and two gunships were busy going over their craft. The gunships especially caught Marin's attention, who was still familiarizing herself to the different craft and the roles they carried out.

She'd already done one round of PT, though hers more consisted of kata and the knife work that she had been taught. If it caught the attention of the others, she didn't much care. It was her routine. Now that she was done, she wiped her face and neck with a towel as she sat down on the deck and stretched out, all the while observing the gunship crews.

"I think I've got everything situated on this fuse panel," one of the crew members said from a seat in the gunship, behind and slightly above the other who was making adjustments to a flight helmet. "Power up the system and see how it works."

"Alright," the front-seater said as he put the helmet on and did something in the cockpit that she couldn't see. "Tracking left now." He turned his head, starting to look in her direction. At the same time, the gun turret underneath the nose of the craft started turning in her direction as well.

Slowly, Marin stretched her wrists and worked her shoulders through several rotations as she reached out with the Force.. cautiously. Mostly, to enhance her hearing. She was curious but didn't want to be in the way. She listened to their chatter back and forth and felt surprised as she saw the turret tracking in her direction. She wasn't scared, but a little nervous. She locked eyes with him for a moment and focused on her breathing.

The crewman in the front seat continued to move his head, looking in different directions around the hangar in front of the craft. All the time, the turret tracked with his every move. "There's probably a second or two in the reaction time," he told the man in the back seat. "About as close as they said we'd get out of it. We can definitely make it work. Powering it down."

When he looked away, she relaxed, feeling the adrenaline drain. She knew he wouldn't intentionally fire on her, but it was still a bit... nerve-wracking.

"Got you curious?" Ittei said as he walked over to her. Her attention being fixed on the gunship for those few moments didn't go unnoticed.

Marin let out a breath she'd not realized she'd been holding and looked up at him for a moment before she stood. "You.. .could say that, sir." she replied cautiously after a moment. "I was watching them test the weapons tracking..." she said after a moment.

"Not a lot of ships use it," he said as he motioned to the turret under the belly. "Most gunships would have manned turrets on the sides or controlled by actual controls on the gunner's stick. The people that designed the Havoc are trying to update and see if the principle of helmet-sighted weapons can be used with newer technology. And the same goes true of the type of blaster." To emphasize this, he pointed out that the turret had several barrels in a circular configuration.

"It makes sense..." she said after a moment, and it would probably make tracking more accurate." she ran a hand through her hair for a moment, brushing a few stray strands behind her ears. "I just.. got a little nervous for a moment, there.." she admitted.

"I'm sure," he said as he looked at the ships. "I'm pretty sure they are too. The Havoc is a new design, this is as much a test and trial for those crews in the ship as it is for us. Part of the reason they're with us on this training cruise."

She blushed ever so slightly. "I have to admit, this is quite different from missions I've been on for the Jedi, and while it's dangerous, I'm looking forward to learning."

"Most of our marine units don't see as much combat action as our naval units," the captain commented to her. "But what times we do see, we always want to make sure we're ready for it."

She nodded and continued watching the gunship crews for a moment as she tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. "Was there... something you wanted me to do, Captain?" she asked after a moment.

"Captain Rightman told me we'll be coming out of hyperspace within an hour. Training will commence soon as we're in the system, so we'll join up in the aft crew mess for briefing in 15 minutes."

Nodding, she replied, "Understood, Captain. I'll be there." Already, she was going over the scenario in her mind, and trying to figure the best way to go about it.

* * *

 _ **Kure**_

Rightman was briefing his bridge crew at the same time that the marines and Marin were filing into the mess and Ittei put down a small holoprojector on the center table and powered it up, pulling up the planetary system they would be training in.

Marin slipped into the room perhaps two minutes before the briefing was to start, and found herself a chair a few tables away from where Ittei was standing. She spent the few minutes making sure her gear was together and in working order before coming to the briefing. It still felt... strange to be without her beskar'gam, but Master Karrde had felt that it wouldn't be necessary. Even so, Marin carried a couple throwing knives that weren't part of the gear she had been issued. If she couldn't have her _beskar'gam_ , at least she could uphold the _resol'nare_ that way.

"Kure will be entering the system in just under a half hour," Ittei started as he highlighted the entry point and the route that was already plotted to their destination. "Our training area is on the other side of the system, giving the ship time to prep and test more of their systems en route. We'll use that time to do final checks and load the shuttles. At entry plus-ten, I want everyone loaded and shuttles preflighted and warming up."

Marin listened closely. She'd not had the months of training the other Marines had. She'd been given a crash course of sorts. An intense 4-week training course before she'd been allowed to enter into the exchange program. As it was, she still felt a bit out of the loop. But Ittei was doing an excellent job of bringing her up to speed. Thinking for a moment, she chewed on her lower lip.

"The ship will approach along the terminator here," the captain said as he highlighted a spot, "just inside the daytime side and in a sparsely populated area to keep any chance of the turbulence of atmospheric entry at a minimum. She'll be entering along the flight path to our target area. Once inside the atmosphere and the ship is fully obscured by the cloaking device, the hanger doors will open five minutes later."

Marin's eyebrows crept upwards at that. _'Atmospheric entry?'_ That wasn't something she'd trained for. She chewed on her bottom lip again and chanced a look around at the other Marines. They didn't seem particularly phased by it. She got the feeling that now wasn't exactly the time to ask questions.

"This is a stealth entry of an assault recon force," he told them as he enlarged the area, tapping a few commands and started to show fields of red on the screen. "There will be fully powered scanners operating, just as if this were a live scenario. They will be trying their best to detect Kure and our force once we deploy. Now, once the doors open, we wait on the order from Kure to deploy. The gunship will deploy first, followed by the shuttles. Since we'll already be on the course towards the target landing zone, we go in an unpowered glide until we're below the scanners. Kure will be looking for that threshold and will update us as to what flight level that will be at. Fifteen thousand meters is a good estimate unless there is a mountaintop site to contend with."

Well, that pretty much answered the questions Marin had been mulling over. At least the majority of them. Nervously, she pulled Jarius' tags from under her fatigues and ran her thumb over the engraved surface. She'd always found that calming.

"Once we're below the scanners, all three craft power up from standby-mode and go to repulsorlifts to level off and proceed to the LZ. Once we're gear down, we've got ten minutes to get out and get the perimeter set. Once that's done, the exercise will be terminated and we'll get the evaluation on our effectiveness and if we were detected in any small way."

It sounded straightforward enough. But as Marin knew, such things were never simple. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and tucked Jarius' tags back under her fatigues where they would be safe.

"Get suited up and we assemble in the hangar before reversion," Ittei told them as he shut down the projector. "Dismissed."

Marin pushed to her feet and let out a breath. She could feel her pulse pounding. Taking a deep breath, she tried to settle her nerves again. She then slipped out of the mess hall and made her way towards her cabin. After a moment to remember the direction, she found her way quickly. Once inside, she made sure the door was locked before she began undressing quickly. The Atmospheric gear and other attire hung in the locker which was bolted to the bulkhead. She carefully laid her fatigues across her bunk and donned the atmospheric gear.

"Ten minutes, captain," the helmsman called as he looked at the timer counting down to reversion from hyperspace.

"Final checks on the cloaking device completed," his tactical officer called from just to the right of the helm station.

"Remember, everyone," Rightman said as he walked around to his chair. "They know we're coming. But they don't know when we going to show up, so let's keep them guessing. Activate the cloak at five minutes and standby for entry."

At the five minute mark, _Kure's_ tactical officer activated the cloak. Rightman called the ship to condition two at the same time. Lights dimmed throughout the ship, with yellow alarm lights powering up to inform the crew of the alert status. Though it was a training exercise, torpedo firing chambers were checked and loaded, her forward fixed turbolaser banks placed on standby mode. All over the ship, things were picked up and extra detail given to every station.

In the meantime, Marin had finished donning her atmospheric gear. Now, she was double-checking her weapons. The standard issue weapons for the Marines were arrayed around her as she checked them over one by one. To this, she'd added a couple of her throwing knives. She'd also brought her saber. After one final check, she gathered her weapons and gear and made her way towards the shuttle bay.

As she made her way down the corridor, Marin again felt a familiar presence... as if Jarius was standing at her shoulder. She smiled slightly and slipped into the hangar and off to one side. The presence remained, and she had the distinct feeling of a hand resting on her shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed and she reached up to trace Jarius' tags again. _'Buir...'_ she whispered, reaching out to him. _'I hope I can make you proud today..'_

"We're two minutes from reversion," Ittei yelled out to make sure he was heard throughout the hangar deck. "Load up. Durza, you're with me in shuttle one."

Her eyes flew open at Ittei's shout, and she grabbed her gear before jogging across the deck to meet him. "Yes, Sir," she said firmly, giving him a nod before she slipped past him and into the shuttle's aft section. There were rows of seats lining the walls, most of which had already been filled. With a sigh, she dropped into one of the few remaining empty ones.

Between the shuttles, the gunship crew closed their own canopies and locked them down, going over final system checks and tightened down their helmets. In the shuttled, the flight crew was already in their seats and strapped in. All their flight instrumentation was up and the engines were left cold. They would be brought into standby-mode before they began the entry run. The marines, all geared up and going over to make sure each had their stuff cinched down and ready, nodded at the captain's order and started to file in to go up the boarding ramps.

Taking a slow breath, Marin settled back in her seat and pulled a small object from her pocket. It was a gift Jarod had given her. A dark orange stone sat in her palm, polished smooth. It wasn't meant for a lightsaber, but was a stone he'd found on one of his missions. Into it, he'd carved their names in Cataani. Smiling, she ran her thumb over the surface of it.

Ittei saw this and nodded knowingly, himself keeping busy by making a mental headcount of the marines loading up in the shuttle.

Marin had felt his gaze on her, but for now, ignored it and set about making sure her gear was secure for the insertion.

"We are secured from hyperspace," the helm announced after he checked his systems from shutting down the hyperdrive. "Proceeding at two-thirds sublight."

"ETA to insertion point is twenty-five minutes at this speed, captain," the navigator called from behind Rightman.

"Very well," the captain acknowledged and looked to his right. "Kuroda, scanners?"

"Relaying patrol and commercial routes to plot now," his officer there called as he looked over his screens. "No signs of alert to our entry."

"Let's start our checks while we're setting up for the insertion run," the captain told his bridge crew. "Let the hangar bay know we are go for the first run."

Marin had remained in her seat, mentally preparing herself for the insertion run. She'd done similar missions before, and she was a bit nervous. But, the rest of the marines didn't seem all that phased by it. She wished she had their calm. Another slow deep breath as she ran her thumb over the surface of the orange stone.

The captain leaned over to her and started to talk to her quietly. "Our part on this is straightforward, setting and securing a perimeter once we've arrived. The majority of the pressure on this is on the flight crews and the techs, making sure they can get us there without being detected. If we get there without being picked up by their scanners, then we move on to phase two. That is when it's up to us."

Her eyebrow quirked slightly, and she looked sideways at him. From everything he'd said, the exercise was completed once the perimeter was set. "What's Phase two, Sir...?" she replied quietly, absently pulling one of her throwing knives from its sheath and beginning to sharpen it.

"Getting an assault force in without being detected is important," he told her as he leaned back in his seat. "But what good is it unless the force can move in on a target and attack without complete surprise?"

"Point.." she conceded after a moment, continuing to sharpen her knife. She wasn't even thinking about it - it was a habit she'd gotten into before going into battle. "What's our objective, should we reach that stage?"

Ittei pulled out a map and unfolded it slightly to show their landing zone. "Four clicks from the LZ is an abandoned village. There's been a OpFor (opposing force) stationed there, acting as hostage takers. Our objective will be to move in quietly and secure the area."

She listened closely to his explanation, nodding. "Non-lethal force, yes..?"

"You noticed the modifications to the ends of our blasters?" he brought his carbine up, pointing to the slightly larger end piece of the barrel.

"Aye, I did... " she replied quietly, as she lifted her own and inspected it more closely. "Whats the purpose..?"

"Extreme low-powered shots is all it can do," he explained to her. "A regular blaster on the stun setting has more power output. Anyone is hit with this, they'll know it and that's about all, but they'll be out of action and will lay down."

She nodded again. It was similar in practice to stun setting on her saber. She said as much after a moment.

"Captain," the pilot called back from the pilot's seat. "We're about three minutes from the start of the run."

"Acknowledged," Ittei said as he turned to the rest in the shuttle. "Three minutes. Final checks now."

Marin took a breath, willing herself to be calm. It wasn't easy. She'd done it before. Bestine. She drew on that same feeling to remain focused, and carefully checked over her carbine as she'd been taught. Hell, it was the same process she'd learned from Ethan and Jarius all those years ago.

"Leveling out," the helmsman said as he smoothly adjusted his controls. "Closing on release point."

"Open hangar doors," Rightman said as he kept an eye on his chrono. "Standby to release."

In the hangar, the doors opened behind the shuttles and the gunship. On the deck, one of the hands was signaling all three craft to standby.

Marin checked her helmet and gear one last time, making sure to secure a loose strap here and there. Then, she sat back and just breathed.

The pilots kept their eye on the deckhand, who was looking up at the counter over the hangar doors. After a few moments, he lifted his hand and held his fingers out, readying to count down to the pilots who were starting to bring their engines up to power the instant they released. After a moment, he started to countdown from five.

"Three," the pilot in the lead shuttle called out to let everyone know what was about to happen.

Marin could just see the deckhand if she leaned forward slightly. And she did just that for a moment before she sat back again and tightened her crash webbing. She'd gotten to see the bright streaks of atmosphere beyond the magcon field as the friction of the ship entering atmosphere heated up the air.

At zero, the magnetic clamps on the landing gear for each craft release and a specialized set of clamps on the aft landing gear immediately launched the gunship out of the hanger bay, a few moments later, the shuttles followed. As each exited the ship, the pilots went to full throttle on the engines and kept a close eye on their altitude, adjusting the repulsorlifts to steadily level out at low altitude. At the same time, _Kure's_ hanger doors closed and the ship continued under cloak. They would re-enter orbit on the opposing terminator in a repeated attempt to avoid detection.

"Clean release," the command pilot said as he kept an eye on his flight path.

"Nothing on passive scanners," his copilot called as he kept a careful eye on the instruments. "No additional search scanners, no tracking alerts. We're in the clear so far."

Marin withdrew the same stone from her pocket one more time, running her thumb over it before it vanished from her hand again. She'd spent weeks training with these Marines, but she still felt out of place to a degree.

"Five minutes to LZ," the pilot called as he looked over the gunship ahead of them. "Strike One to Wardog, pull ahead to LZ and look things over."

"Roger that, Strike One," the gunship responded as he started to increase power and went lower. "We'll give everything a once over and give you an all clear if things are green."

Marin hoped that it would all go smoothly. It reminded her somewhat of the exercises she used to do when Ethan was training her. But this... was much bigger.

Ittei looked over at her and nodded as he leaned back and closed his eyes for a few moments. He was trying to relax as well. Personally, he always felt better once he had his boots on the ground. He nodded softly, thinking on a few different things then turned his head to the group. "Remember, once you're out of the shuttle, we establish a perimeter around the landing zone. Stay in the clearing, eyes open for anything."

Marin smiled slightly, having caught the general line of his thoughts, but she didn't pry. She'd always been the type of person that preferred doing something. Checking her carbine one more time, she braced her feet to prepare for the arrival.

"Strike One," the gunship pilot called as he and his gunner looked over the area. "LZ is clear, repeat clear. We're holding off a half click away, you're go for gear down."

"Coming in," the command pilot acknowledged as he lowered altitude and gave the area a once over.

"Gear down. Standby on the loading ramp."

Bracing her feet, Marin got a more secure grip on her gear as she waited for the shuttle to touch down and the loading ramp to drop.

As soon as the landing gear touched the ground, the copilot hit the switch that lowered the boarding ramp. At the same time, Ittei hit the release on his crash webbing and stood up as the other Marines also got up and quickly started to file out. Coming out, they started to fan out and cover the outer area of the clearing. While they were offloading, the pilots were shutting down their engines to lower the chance of their emissions being picked up. At the same time, the gunship came in and did another look around the area before setting in between the assault shuttles.

Marin was close behind Ittei as they filed out of the shuttle. As soon as her boots touched dirt, she dropped into a crouch and moved off towards the left, making sure to check the area ahead.

"Report," Ittei called out over the comm, getting signals of all clear from all of his team. "Bring it in, form up at the west edge."

Marin sent her own all-clear signal before carefully retracing her steps. It was strangely quiet, which left Marin wondering what might happen later.

Ittei started to pull a map out and spread it out as the team leaders and pilots gathered around him. "The village that's being held is ten clicks north-west of here. Any closer and they would have possibly heard our engines as he came in. We're at local noon now, I want to be within three clicks before sunset. Sergeant Escho, your team is point. I want your squad in a line, within sight of each other. The rest of us move in teams behind you. Wardog, I'm hoping we don't have to call you in, but keep your engines ready to spool up to give us cover."

"You call it, captain," the gunship pilot told him. "And we'll be up in minutes."


	5. Chapter 5

**_Kure_ \- Following the first exercise**

"We did really well on the first run," Ittei commented as he finished going over the debrief at the holomap table in the small wardroom. "But don't expect it like this on the next one. Our opposition force will change positions and tactics based on this first training run, which will cause us to adapt ours as well."

Marin perched on one of the seats a few rows back as she listened. Absently, she ran her thumb over the second set of tags which now hung about her neck. _Hers_. She knew Ittei still had some reservations about the exchange program, and she was working hard to prove herself capable.

"We've got 24 hours before we make our second run," the captain told everyone as he cleared the map of the lines of movement that they had made. "This time I want to..."

He was interrupted by an alarm klaxon sounding twice, followed by the intercom sounding off. _"All decks, condition two alert. All decks, condition two alert. Captain Ittei, to the bridge."_

Instantly, Marin's head came up, and her feet dropped to the floor. A second later, she was on her feet and gathering what few items she'd brought to the briefing. Her gaze went to Ittei first for instructions. Something told her this _wasn't_ a training exercise.

Ittei looked at the speaker and grumbled some as he shook his head and shut down the holoprojector. "Marines to the deck and check your gear. I'll go topside and see what's going on."

Chewing her lower lip nervously, Marin hefted her pack and settled it onto her shoulders. She'd not changed much since the last exercise except to acquire some fresh supplies. The power pack for her weapon still had plenty of charge. With a slight frown, she slipped out of the briefing room and towards the hangar.

* * *

In a few minutes, Ittei passed through the doors into the bridge and looked around to find Rightman. The ship's captain was at the navigation table and the Marine walked over and asked what was going on.

"We received a distress signal from a small colony that's on the outskirts of our territorial space," Rightman said as he pointed out the area on the enlarged map and turned to look towards his signals officer. "How weak was that signal?"

"Very weak, Captain," the officer responded as he pointed to a display on his console. "We barely received it and we're in the system closest to the origin. I don't believe any other ship might have gotten it."

Meanwhile, Marin and the other Marines sat on the deck or perched on supply crates as they went over their gear. She hoped that they were prepared for whatever the situation threw at them, but something in her gut told her it _wasn't_ a training exercise.

* * *

 **Cataani Border Territories**

"We'll have to go sublight to here to make the jump in," the navigator said as he tapped a few keys and highlighted a mark on the system map. "From there, estimate 1.75 hours to get into the system."

"Send the course to helm and start moving at full sublight. Signals, inform system control that we're investigating this distress signal." He turned to Ittei and nodded softly. "We'll go into the system cloaked and evaluate the situation. I suggest probably go ahead and brief your group of what's going on and get them ready for any possible action."

"They're still green," Ittei said as he shook his head. "But, as you said, we may have been the only ones to get the signal. And we're duty-bound to answer it. I'll make sure we're ready."

"I've already informed command of the signal and our intentions to check it out," Rightman said as they moved away from the navigation table towards the center area of the bridge and the captain sat in his chair. "We'll maintain condition two alert until we're certain of what's going on."

Ittei popped a mild salute and started for the bridge doors. In a few minutes, he was in the hanger bay and calling the Marines to order around him while he got ready to let them know of what was happening.

* * *

Marin pushed to her feet when Ittei entered, and quickly fell into formation. She could sense... _anticipation_ , and also a feeling of... trepidation from some. Personally, she was nervous. Sure, she'd been in combat before, but this was a little different. She took a deep breath and proceeded into the calming technique she'd been taught years ago. When she'd found her calm center, she projected that feeling outward to the others, hoping it would help.

"What's going on, captain?" the Sergeant asked as they assembled around the nose of the gunship.

"The ship picked up a faint distress from one of our neighboring systems," Ittei told them as he looked around. "We may have been the only ones that got it, but Rightman has informed fleet command about it. In the meantime, we're duty bound to investigate the distress signal. While the community that sent it isn't part of our colonial territories, they are an ally system to us."

Marin frowned. "Captain, if I may... what did the message say exactly? Do you have any idea what we are up against?"

"It was really scratchy, even after the signals officer did everything she could to clean it up," he told her honestly. "As best as we could hear, they indicated an unprovoked attack by forces unknown. The colony is a farming community, not much in the way of defenses."

At that point, the lights in the hangar area dimmed, the normal white lighting being replaced by softer blue hues...something they all recognized by now when she ship activated her cloaking system.

Nodding, Marin thought for a moment. It made her think of the colony on Tanagis for a moment. She well understood what the colony might be facing, and she prayed that it wasn't _Kyr'tsad_.

Ittei looked up at that and then went back to address the group. "As you can tell, we're going in cloaked to investigate without detection. Once we jump, travel time will be less than two hours. I don't know what kind of situation we'll be facing. Sergeant, I want you, Pillen, and Durza with me on the bridge when we enter the system so we can evaluate any possible ground action necessary."

That got her attention, and her head came up in surprise. "Me, Sir...?"

"You've had a hand in mission planning, from what I understand," the captain told her matter-of-factly. "And no better time than now to learn about target evaluation."

Her eyes widened, and she nodded in reply. "Yes, Sir. Understood." She said firmly. It was... almost _vindicating_ to have him recognize that. And for once, she didn't feel like he - or anyone was trying to play favorites. She straightened a bit. "Sir... our weapons... they are currently fitted for the training exercises. We'll need to return them to normal functionality, correct?"

"Indeed," he told them. "We should have enough time during the jump to get that done. Also, check all your other equipment and make sure that everything is still in good shape from our training run. Any other questions?" The rest of the group shook their heads then, and there were murmurs of "No, sir."

"Then let's get to work."

* * *

 ** _Kure_ \- Bridge**

It took a little over an hour for everything to be checked out, reconfigured for live-fire, and making sure that the shuttles and gunship were completely ready for any kind of deployment. Ittei was on the bridge with the Marin, the sergeant, and the other Marine that he selected to look over everything. There was a small amount of tension on the bridge, but everyone was going over their systems with assuredness and confidence. Most of the crew had been at Bastion and had quickly assured the replacement members that came aboard that things would be alright. Rightman was standing on the deck just in front of his command chair, occasionally looking at the wall chrono that was showing the countdown till they reverted to realspace in the system. All of Kure's systems, especially their cloaking device, were checked and were running completely within the norms. The ship was ready for whatever was waiting on the other side.

With one hand, Marin ran her thumb over the smooth surface of the stone Jarod had given her. And with the other, she leaned on the edge of the holographic repeater plot as she watched the timer as well. _Waiting_.

"Ten seconds," the helmsman said as he started to rest his hands on the hyperdrive lever next to him. He counted the last five seconds and then slowly slid the controls for the hyperdrive forward, the star lines fading back into points as the ship entered the system. Instantly, Rightman looked over to his officer at the scanning station, who was already initiating passive scans over the system.

"Three contacts spotted," he said a moment later as he tapped a few more controls to start running through the identification charts. At the navigation table, the scanners instantly marked the locations of the three ships on the system map over the planet they were in orbit of.

"Two _Karrack_ -class cruisers," Kuroda continued to call out as he went over all of his information. "And one _Starbolt_ -class assault carrier. Line formation with the carrier in the middle, Captain."

"Old ships," Rightman said as he looked at the screen at the planet. They weren't close enough yet for the ship's visual scanners to enlarge and bring up a larger picture of their targets. "Any identification on them?"

Squinting slightly, Marin leaned closer to the repeater as she studied the as-yet-unidentified contacts. They didn't seem overly large, at least according to the - her thought trailed off. " _Karrack_ -class?" she asked softly. "Who uses those...?" she looked up at Ittei.

Kuroda shook his head. "Not picking up IFF transponders. We're going to have to close in to get an identification from their engine traces."

"Anyone could use them," Ittei told Marin as the additional data on the ships was displayed on the map. "All three of those designs are old, dating back from the Clone Wars if not older in the case of that carrier. In fact, with the presence of that carrier, we can bet that they've got landing troops on the ground. Any way we can double check that?"

Rightman looked from Ittei to Kuroda, who shook his head. "I'm only able to give you preliminary readings right now. We'll have to get closer to orbit for a more detailed look."

Marin thought for a moment. "Do we have any sensor drones? If so, it would be the best way to check..." She looked from Ittei to Rightman after a moment.

"If we do that, we'll need to launch it now, before we get any closer," Kuroda added from his station.

"But if they pick it up, it'll alert them that the colony's signal got through," the exec said as he looked over the plot. "If that's the case, it may do more harm than good if they know that there may be company coming. We might be better going in and keep them in the dark."

She glanced to Kuroda again, frowning slightly at the Exec's words. "It can't cloak, I take it...?" Chewing her lower lip thoughtfully, she tried to think of another option.

"It has shielding," Kuroda said with a shrug. "But the chances of being picked up are even. It all depends on the condition of their scanners and how good the person at the controls may be."

She leaned a bit closer to the three contacts displayed in the repeater plot, and let her senses expand slowly. If sensors couldn't get them the info they needed.. maybe she could. Not too many knew of her Force ability, though they might if they made the connection with her last name. She wouldn't be able to sense anything that was on the surface, as they were still too far away.

Rightman thought over this and looked over the situation. They had to get the information, and he thought he had an idea of how it could be done. "Helm, put us into high orbit over the next planet in the system."

"Aye sir," came the response as the helmsman adjusted the course heading.

"Kuroda, set the drone for low-velocity approach once it's within 300 klicks of the targets. Passive and visual scanning only, with microburst relay to _Kure_ every thirty seconds. Plot its course to fly past the targets and burn into the atmosphere on the far side from them."

The officer nodded at the plan and smiled slightly. "I'm on it, captain."

Marin had been about to say something, but at that, she grinned slightly. It was very similar to what she would have done in that situation. "Would the drone be able to pick up anything from the surface..?"

"Launch when ready," Rightman said as he looked to Ittei. "It should be able to give us ground positions too. If it is a pirate raid like I'm thinking, they're going to be in orbit close to their ground units."

"Indeed..." Marin said softly as she continued to study the holographic plot, the strobing yellow of the three craft floating in the middle of it, with the planet below them. The datapoints which floated next to each vessel flickered slightly, indicating readings which were preliminary at best.

It was several minutes before the telemetry from the drone started painting them a different picture. _Kure's_ scanners were top of the line, but even they could be fooled by some of the most basic moves.

"I can reconfigure to pick those up," Kuroda said after the drone picked up four other ship signatures hanging over the northern magnetic pole, and three more hanging around the southern pole. It was a classic move to be able to avoid sensor scans from a distance. "Clever move on their part. Not many outlaw and pirate organizations would know of such a tactic."

"Which means that they've got experienced combat people calling operational shots," Rightman said as the new positions were plotted out.

That drew a frown from Marin. "What could they possibly want from the colony... supplies?" She frowned more and leaned over ther plot, studying the new readings closely.

"Whatever they can get their hands on," Rightman's exec said with a low growl. "Supplies, any valuables they can take from the homes. But this..." He pointed to the larger of the four ships in the northern formation. "is listed as a personnel carrier. I'd lay a month's pay that its configured for prisoner transport, which means they'd take all the people to put into the slave trades."

Marin swallowed, briefly thinking about tactics that J'oran's people had used. _Kyr'tsad_ wasn't above such things... and she'd heard the stories. "Do you think... " she stopped as Kuroda answered her half-finished question.

"Shuttle activity coming from that personnel carrier," he called out, and they all saw the smaller blips come from the north. "Captain, the drone is almost at the end of its run."

"Ahead two thirds," Rightman said as he looked to his exec. "Call battlestations."

Chewing her bottom lip, Marin looked to Ittei for a moment before turning to head towards the hangars.

"What's your plan?" Ittei asked as Marin started to walk into the corridor.

"First thing first," Rightman said, as much for Ittei as for his bridge crew as well. "That personnel carrier gets crippled, followed by the fighter carrier. The cruisers don't have hangar bays than can handle so many shuttles, so that'll give them only the option to leave themselves."

"You know that might force their hand and make them raze the settlement," Ittei mentioned.

"Over _Kure's_ dead hull," Ittei said as he thought more on the plan.

Marin caught the tail end of the discussion as she stepped through the hatchway and into the corridor. For now, she knew she could do better down in the hangar preparing her gear. She hoped... that she could help, she'd dealt with similar things before.

"Did we get an estimate of any kind of ground force?" Ittei asked as he went back and looked over the outlook on the navigation table. "Several squads worth at least. How many troops can a Carrack-class hold."

"Just shy of a hundred and fifty," the exec said, trying to pull up the stat from memory. "But I can't imagine that any of those ships carrying a full complement of crew and troops."

"How long until they reach atmo?" the exec asked as he leaned over Kuroda's console. "Five, maybe ten minutes. Captain, that's not enough time to float out a torpedo and drift it over to them."

"Too bad we don't have a..." Rightman cut himself off in mid-sentence and looked over at Ittei for a moment. "Captain, can you call Durza back up here?"

In the few minutes that had passed, Marin had set herself down on one of the gear crates and set about getting her gear squared away as she listened to the low chatter of the other Marines. She was jolted from her focus for a moment as she heard her name called over the Marines' comm net. Her gaze snapped to the Sergeant for a moment before he shrugged and hooked a thumb in the direction she'd just come from. "On the double, Durza. Sounds urgent." Biting her lip, Marin nodded and bolted towards the lift at a full out run. Two minutes later, she stepped back onto the bridge, absently smoothing her fatigues. Her breathing was _almost_ back under control.

* * *

 ** _Kure_ \- Bridge**

"Rushed?" Ittei asked as he motioned her to join him and Rightman at the plot board. The exterior schematic of the troop carrier was pulled up and enlarged over the table.

She glanced sideways at him but merely nodded as she stepped up beside him. "What's going on...?" she asked softly, her gaze sliding to Rightman for a moment.

"That troop ship is going to be in the atmosphere too soon for us to make a torpedo drift towards it," Rightman said as he looked over at her. "And we can't activate its booster after floating it out of the launcher without giving away that there's another ship here. So, I want to try something..."

Her eyes narrowed as she began to understand his meaning. "The drift would be too slow, but if someone were _guiding_ it..." She chewed on her bottom lip. "I've done similar things before, sir. But nothing quite like that." There was a pause as she considered it. "I'm willing to give it a go... and better pray to the Lady that it works.." she finished softly.

"This is where it needs to hit," Rightman said as he pointed to a specific place on the aft section of the hull. "If it hits there, it'll seem like they had an overload on one of their main power relays. They'll loose main power and be out of operation. We're moving into position so you don't have to do much for guidance, just basically throw it straight down to them."

Her lips pursed for a moment as she thought it over. "What tube will the torpedo be loaded into?" She knew the general layout of most of _Kure's_ systems, but not specifics. As long as she knew the location of the tube in relation to where they were, she could pinpoint it.

"Tube one loaded and ready to loose," the tactical officer answered from his station.

It took her a few seconds to mentally sort through what she knew of _Kure_. "Alright." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force. She couldn't feel the metal of the torpedo itself with the Force, but she could feel the faint pulse of energy from the live warhead.

"In position," the helm said as he stopped the ship's drift.

"Ready?" Rightman asked Marin as he looked over to her.

"Ready, Sir..." she replied, her voice a lot steadier than she felt. Absently, she reached into the pocket of her fatigues with her free hand and ran her fingers over the smooth stone Jarod had given her. Breathing slowly, she tightened her focus on the torpedo. She could faintly sense the mechanisms of the tube moving the torpedo into position.

Rightman turned to look towards the screen for a moment then looked to the tactical station. " _Fire_."

Biting down on her lower lip, Marin lifted her left hand slightly, orienting herself towards where she felt the raider ship to be. In her mind, she felt the explosive release of air as the torpedo was released from the firing tube. There were no vibrations from it's small engine. But the small amount of momentum from being released from the launch tube was enough. Carefully gripping the torpedo in a phantom-hand of the Force, she began to push against it steadily, guiding it forward and down towards the raider ship below.

Rightman didn't disturb her but walked over towards the tactical station to follow what the plotted course of the carrier was and the path that the torpedo was taking to hit where they needed it.

Marin continued to hold the image of the raider ship in her mind as she guided the torpedo towards it. With no propulsion, the torpedo would be undetectable on sensors, and the blackness of space hid it from visual. Her frown deepened for a moment as she carefully corrected the torpedo's course. A faint sheen of sweat began to appear on her forehead, but she kept her breathing slow and even. After another minute or two she gave the torpedo one last push, pretty much ramming it into the spot Rightman had indicated to her on the sensor scan.

"Direct hit," the tactical officer called as the feed from the torpedo stopped. On the screen, the explosion happened right where they needed it to happen.

"She's lost main power," Kuroda called as he kept looking over his instruments. "They've got aux up, but they're losing altitude fast. At that angle, they might not make re-entry. Captain, I've got the other ships rushing in, active scanning."

"Get us clear," Rightman told the helm, who was already moving the ship to find a path through the other raiders.

Marin took the moment of activity to sit back and catch her breath. As far as Force control, that was probably one of the hardest things she'd done in a long time.

"Sir," Kuroda said as he turned. " _Karrak_ cruiser, bearing down on us dead ahead. They can't see us, but..."

"We hit, its over," Rightman said as he looked to see the cruiser coming right down at them. "Helm, Z axis minus five thousand, now!" The deck lurched some, the inertial compensation lagging from the sudden dive the ship was having to take towards the planet to avoid the cruiser. It was going to be close, but they couldn't risk running into the upper parts of the atmosphere either in this place. It would give their position just as much as a mid-ship collision.

Marin grabbed at the edge of the console for a moment, grunting in surprise. She wasn't sure if she imagined it, but she could almost _feel_ the two ships passing close.

"Too close," Rightman said as he read off the distance from the cruiser as it passed over them. "Helm, port rudder thirty degrees. _Spast_ , they're swarming around the troop carrier now. They must really want to keep her going."

Marin frowned. "What can we do from here. sir..?"

The captain walked over and looked over at the ship plot. Nearly all of the raiders were closing in to assist the troop ship. "We're not going to get a better chance to go ahead and do an orbital insertion. They're all occupied, so our chance to get you marines down there is pretty good."

Minutes later, Ittei and Marin were in the hangar area, grabbing everything together. Ittei shouting orders as the shuttle and gunship crews started suiting up along with the Marines. "Hustle it up!" Ittei yelled over the rising of the engines warming up. "We've only got a short window here!"

On the bridge, the navigator was already laying out a course that would give them the insertion path they needed and still be able to exit the atmosphere well away from the raiders. Kuroda was keeping a close eye on them and Rightman's tactical officer had all of the ship's weapons charged, loaded and ready.

Frowning slightly, Marin hefted her pack before slinging it over her shoulder and testing the balance. it was loaded well and evenly. With a satisfied sound, she turned quickly and slipped into the shuttle she'd been assigned to - the same one as Ittei. She wasn't entirely sure what to expect once they were on the ground, but if what was going on up here was any indication, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Even out the shields for atmospheric entry," Rightman said as he stood in front of the command chair. He wouldn't be able to sit down right now, with the tension that was building up in the compartment. "Helm?"

"Plotted and ready, making our descent now."


	6. Chapter 6

**_Kure_ \- Hangar**

In the hangar, deckhands were waiting to disconnect auxiliary lines to the shuttles and gunship. They would wait as long as they could and keep the three craft on ship's power until the drop. The gunship crew was already buttoning up their individual canopies, the pilot checking over his engine readings while his gunner was checking that all his weapon safeties were set. In the shuttles, the Marines were piling in as quick as they could while the pilot and co-pilot went through an abbreviated combat checklist to get the crafts ready to fly.

Marin slid into a seat just inside the rear hatch and watched across the deck for a moment as the deckhands moved about checking lines and readying to disconnect them. Sure, she was more skilled with ground combat, but she always found it interesting to observe others. The crew of Kure was new to her on this mission, and she was surprised how seamlessly they worked together.

"Going to be a little bumpy," the helmsman said as they started to enter the upper areas of the ionosphere. The vibrations were soft, but it could be felt through the deck.

"Can't be afraid of the wind," Rightman said as he started to settle into his seat. "Once we're on our atmospheric glide path, open the hangar doors." On the deck, the red signal lights went solid to inform the crews that they were on the approach.

Nodding mostly to herself, Marin tightened her crash webbing slightly and spread her feet. With her free hand, she readied her gear for the jump once they were clear. Slowly, the shuttle's hatch closed, and Marin settled her helmet more securely on her head, watching as the HUD flickered to life. The chatter on the comm was minimal for the moment, mostly orders being passed back and forth.

"We're in the atmosphere," Kuroda said as he kept an eye over his scanners. "Raiders are still in northern orbit."

"Cloak is stable," the tactical officer called from next to him. "Minimal signature from our entry."

"Release in three minutes," the pilots called back to the marines in each craft as the hangar doors started to open behind them. The deck crews started disconnecting the umbilicals and closed the covers on the craft while other started taking up the lines and putting them back into their compartments.

Marin could hear the faint scrapes and bumps from within the shuttle, and she took a slow breath, glancing around the crew compartment for a moment as she tried to project a sense of calm she didn't quite feel. If she was being honest with herself, she had to admit that this mission made her very nervous. For reasons she couldn't put her finger on. So, she focused on her breathing and trying to release the anxiety.

At two minutes, _Kure_ leveled out at low altitude. Kuroda was keeping a constant watch on the raiders as they approached the release point. If their strike craft were picked up on scanners, he wanted to be able to get instant notification of a change in their positioning. At the moment, it seemed like an all-hands effort to keep the troop ship that they probably used for slave hauling from falling out of orbit and spiraling into a fiery crash.

Marin could faintly sense the tension, even from here, and she tried to expand the feeling of calm. It wasn't easy. She checked her gear again, and her hand slid back to check on her saber, which was in it's holster on the back of her belt.

One of the hands stood by at the release switch that would disconnect the magnetic moorings that held the strike craft on the deck at the right time. Inside the lead shuttle, the pilot fingered one minute to Ittei, who turned towards the others in the bay. "Training is over, Marines. This is a real mission now. One minute to RP."

Chewing on her lower lip, Marin took a deep breath and made one last check of her gear. Everything was stowed and secure. She nodded to herself and braced her feet against the decking in preparation for the drop. She could feel a flutter of nervousness in her stomach, but fought it down. For an instant, she could have sworn she'd felt the calming weight of someone's hand on her shoulder, but when she looked, no one was there. "Steady..." she heard a voice whisper in her mind. One that was familiar somehow.

"RP in three," the navigator called out behind Rightman at the plot board. "Two...one...mark."

In the hangar, the signal light which had been flashing for the last ten seconds, strobed green at the zero count. Instantly, the deckhand at the release lever pulled it down as the pilots of all three craft brought their repulsorlifts online and slipped backward out of the hangar bay.

The gunship slipped out first, ducked down lower and applied power to maintain treetop altitude as the pilot watched for any kind of obstacles while the gunner looked for any possible targets. The shuttles also applied power and joined in a line several hundred meters behind the gunship. Soon, all three started to go lower towards a landing area they had picked out just a short time ago.

"They're off," Rightman said as he looked over at Kuroda. "Any signs of being detected?"

"They're still holding orbit, working on that carrier."

For a long moment, Marin sat still and just breathed. Something about that voice was instantly calming, and she felt the majority of her nervousness drain away, as if... it felt as if someone had wrapped strong arms around her and embraced her firmly.

* * *

 **Surface**

At the landing area, it was just as on the training run. The gunship made several passes around the zone and radioed back that all was clear for the shuttles to come in. Once landed, the Marines were instantly out and forming a perimeter around the zone. Ittei was on the microburst transmitter to Kure to let Rightman know they were on the ground and assembling to move.

"Looks like your torpedo strike did the trick," he said to Marin as he confirmed with Kure and closed the channel. "They're so involved with keeping that troop ship in the air that it looks like they didn't even see a sign of our approach."

That got Marin to grin a bit. "I was hoping it would, Sir. It did enough damage to take that ship out, and it provided a good distraction. let's hope it stays that way as long as possible." She pushed smoothly to her feet and moved off, following just behind the rear of the group, and closing in the gap.

Ittei had thought ahead when they had gone over the topographical scans of the village while they were still onboard Kure. There were a series of hills along the northwestern side of the village, which also had quite a bit of brush and tree cover that his marines could use to good affect. He was under brush now, using his macrobinoculars to look over the town. He had a recon team going in closer and he was just awaiting their signal once they got to pre-planned locations.

Marin crouched not too far from him, her eyes half-closed as she expanded her senses outward. She had to keep tight control, for she could feel the panic rolling off the colonists in waves, and she didn't want it to overwhelm her. For several long seconds, she just breathed, whispering locations to Ittei as she began to get a fix on the raiders.

"Six, this is Point, over." Ittei heard over their secured channel a few moments later. He kept his macros up to his eyes as he responded. "Point, this is Six. Say position."

"We're in the bell tower of the worship center, east corner of the square. Have a good watch position, over."

Marin's eyebrows rose slightly as she listened to the comm chatter, and continued to pass Ittei information, relaying what she could to the team in the tower. There was a team of 6 over that way.

"Three teams of three on roving patrol. We've already got their pattern marked. Ten guarding the hostages in what looks like a grain warehouse on the southeast corner of town."

Marin frowned again as she tried to zero in on one of the teams. "How long between each patrol pass..?"

"Takes each team about ten minutes to finish a circuit," they heard back on the channel as they continued to look over the area.

"Any signs of heavy equipment?" Ittei asked quietly.

"Two repulsor units with heavy weapon mounts," came the response a moment later. "Looks like they're using the colony's heavy lifts to move goods and merch into an open area to the south. Large enough, could be used for airlift ops."

At that, Marin's eyes widened, and her gaze locked with Ittei. "What are they doing...?" she murmured. "From that, it sounds like the could be securing the colony more... or occupying it. But why would..." She cut herself off. "To transport the colonists..."

"Pirate raid," Ittei said as he lowered the binocs and looked at her for a few moments. "Taking what goods they can either use or resale on the markets. Colonists would go into the slave labor trade. Usually, something like this is something groups like the Hutts and other mob organizations would bankroll."

Marin shook her head at that. "This doesn't seem like something the Hutts would do. It's too well planned. Whoever these people are, they've known about the colony for a while, I gather. They seem to know their way around remarkably well."

"Most groups, this is always spur of the moment with little planning," the master sergeant said behind her, also looking through a set of macros. "But I've heard of some that will take the time to plan the whole thing out, down to the last detail. We may be up against one of them."

"If that's the case," Ittei said as he looked skyward. "Our attack on their carrier that they'd use to get the colonists off definitely set a wrench into their plans."

She'd known he was there, had heard the footsteps behind them as the Master Sergeant approached. A frown crossed her face as she considered for a moment. "Do we have any kind of estimate on how many people they have groundside yet..?"

Ittei thought on that and got back on the comm. "Point, this is Six. Other than the nine on patrol and ten guarding the colonists, what other tangos are on site?"

"Spotted several on rooftops on overwatch," came the immediate response. "Count so far is seven more. No others in visual range, but thermals have picked up a few loose ones going through houses. I'd say...five more on that count."

"That gives us over thirty total," the sergeant said as he did the count as the report came in.

Frowning, Marin crouched for a moment and let her eyes drift closed as she reached out. She could feel the dry soil crunch beneath her boots. Something felt... off about this whole thing. Sure, it was well organized. But this... something about it nagged at her. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Wait a sec," one of the Marines said as he focused in a little tighter on one of the guards that were on the rooftops. There was something about the attire. "Sarge, guard at three o'clock," he called out to the patrol leader, who was on the comm with Ittei.

"Standby, Six," the sergeant said as he slowly moved over next to the trooper and raised his field macros to look at the sentry that was spotted.

"The patch on the right shoulder," the trooper said as the sergeant zoomed in closer.

" _Shythe_ ," the NCO cursed as he tapped a button on his macros to save the image then started to plug it into his comm unit. _"Point to Six, sending the image to your datapad now. Is this what I think it is?"_

Ittei pulled out his datapad and looked at the image as it slowly loaded onto the screen.

That brought Marin's head up quickly, and she pushed to her feet, turning towards Ittei as she heard the comm chatter. As she moved closer, Ittei's datapad flashed with an incoming message. Without thinking, she leaned over his shoulder to look. What she saw caused her to stiffen in surprise for an instant, muttering a particularly strong _Mando'a_ curse without realizing it.

"Marin?" he asked as he handed it to her. "You recognize it?"

She frowned momentarily at the use of her first name, but it certainly got her attention. "I do, sir..." she said quietly, feeling her fingers curl into a fist unconsciously. " _Kyr'tsad_... Death Watch..."

Ittei was on the commlink an instant later, "Point, how many with that emblem?"

 _"Standby,"_ he heard over the net for a long few moments. _"Affirmative, Six. All tangos in sight have this patch."_

That made the Captain start shaking his head. This turn threw a wrench in his plan now. If was simple pirate raiders, it was one thing. But these people, they would be on the same level of training and expertise as his Marines.

Marin swore under her breath. "Is there any way to find out if the others carry that emblem as well?" she asked softly. She paused and focused on breathing. There was too much of her own past entangled with Death Watch, and she remembered all too well what had happened on Coruscant.

As she listened to the comm chatter, Marin took a slow breath. "Captain, I have faced Death Watch before. What would you recommend..?"

"How serious a force are we dealing with here?" Ittei asked her.

At his question, she frowned and took a deep breath before she continued. "If these are anything like the ones I faced on Coruscant, they are well-trained. Easily a match for our Marines." her frown deepened. "What I don't understand is why _here_...?" The question trailed off almost as soon as she'd voiced it. Only one possibility made sense. They were a scouting party of some sort. A raiding party sent to scout close to Cataani territory. Her lips thinned. "You said over thirty? Any way to tell if more carry that emblem?"

"Sergeant Guire said all of the ones in sight have that patch on them."

Marin bit back a curse before her gaze connected with Ittei. "Sir, the only reason I can think that the Death Watch would strike here... is that they are looking for a staging point into Cataani space.." she said softly.

This drew the Master Sergeant's attention. "Didn't we have some mess with them a while back?"

"Aye..." Marin said softly, not meeting his gaze for a moment. It made her chest ache to think that a good portion of those events had been because of her family... and the _Siit_ desire of the praxeum.

"Sounds like we walked into something big, cap," the company exec said as he looked over the image, then switched to the map view they pulled from Kure. He had laid out the patrol patterns earlier as Guire relayed the information to them.

"I agree, LT," Ittei said as he looked over it. "Six to Point. Maintain oversight, contact us with any changes."

He got off the channel and shook his head for a moment. "Comms, send a microburst to _Kure_. Message as follows:..."

* * *

 ** _Kure_ \- Bridge**

Rightman walked through the doors onto the bridge and over to the comm station. "What have you got?"

"Text came in over microburst from the assault team."

Rightman read over the text twice and drew a heavy sigh before he nodded and looked to the officer. "Relay to command, top priority. Exec, what's our status?"

"We're on standby alert status, Captain. Fixed batteries are charged, all tubes loaded and ready."

"I want an even closer eye on these raiders. We've got a change in the situation."

* * *

 **Surface**

Marin crouched near the edge of their hiding spot as she tried to get a better sense of the area. The map had helped some. She could clearly sense the worry and fear of the hostages.

Ittei looked over the map, sending squads out along the edge of the woods towards different points that looked to give them easy entrance into the village. He looked over to where Marin was crouched and finished sending the teams out before he sneaked over to where she sat.

As he approached, Marin looked up from her contemplation. Absently, she traced her thumb over the second set of dog tags which she kept secure in an inner pocket of her utilities. For now, they rested in her left hand.

"Anything you're picking up that our eyes and scanners wouldn't?" he asked as he took a sip from his canteen and handed it over to her.

Sighing softly, she took the canteen and sipped at it before rubbing at her temples for a moment. This was the first in a long time that she'd used her abilities for such an extended period of time. "Well, I'm picking up on the emotions of the colonists, and I can tell you where they are. As to anything else.." She frowned for a moment. "I'm not sure if there is another Force User or not, though it's highly possible. _Kyr'tsad_ did employ a few of them."

"A Force user," Ittei said softly as he shook his head. "That would add another layer of complication onto this, wouldn't it?"

She nodded solemnly. "If that is the case, I will do my best to handle the individual and then help with the rest... How shall we proceed?"

"I've got the teams spreading out now. Good cover along here and there were a few places where they should be able to make entry into the village without getting noticed," he pointed down a section of low hills in front of them. "You're with my team. There's enough cover through those arroyos for us to get in. I've got the gunship warming up in case we need air support and the shuttles are ready for a quick evac if we need it."

Nodding, Marin considered the plan. It was a good one. For a moment, she reached to the back of her belt, as if adjusting something, but in reality, she was checking to make sure her saber was still secured in its usual spot. It was. She'd had to jury-rig a holster, but it worked well. "And once we're inside... what then?"

"I don't think we're going to be able to take them all out quietly," he said as he thought about it. "The main priority is the hostages, so we take out the ones guarding them first."

"Understood, sir..." she said softly. "I'm ready on your signal." She paused. "I do have training in stealth... if you feel it might be useful..?"

"It might," he said as he turned and nodded to the rest of the team that was going with them. "Let's move out."


	7. Chapter 7

**Surface Settlement**

"Did you hear about the carrier?" one of the sentries was asking as the pair stopped at one of the gates at the outskirts of the village.

"Yeah," the other said absent-mindedly as he looked around the perimeter then back towards the center of the village. "Bad luck that. Probably won't be able to get her up and running quick enough for us to be able to carry all of the haul out."

"Don't jinx it like that," the first said as he leaned back against the fence and started to light up a t'bacc stick, taking a deep drag. "We did well here. These folks had a good deal of supplies that we can either use or sell off."

"If we can get it out of here," the other said as he looked around. "They tried to get a signal off. What if they were able to reach help?"

"I told you not to jinx it, damn it," his companion swore as he took another drag. "You've always got to look on the worst side of..."

He broke off in mid-sentence by the sound of something towards the village. Something moving through the brush. "What was that? Did you hear that?"

" _Now_ who's getting suspicious?" The other said in good humor as he looked over in that direction. "Probably just some villager's pet going around or something."

"Maybe," the first said as he took the last pull of the t'bacc. "Maybe it's just..." This time, he was interrupted in mid-sentence by the sudden introduction into his cervical spine of Ittei's vibroblade. The body went limp instantly as the captain slowly lowered then dragged the body into the brush outside the gate. The sergeant was doing the same with his companion on the other side.

Marin watched for several seconds, grinning as the sound distracted the two sentries. She'd trained with Ittei and his Marines for months now, and between her own training, and that she'd gotten from them, she wasn't at all surprised when Ittei slipped forward almost silently and slipped his vibroblade into the man's spine. It reminded her very very much of Ethan's fighting style, and yet Ittei's movements were both fluid and practical.

Frowning for a moment, she cautiously reached out with the force, while keeping her movements slow and careful. There was no telling who the Kyr'tsad had with them. A slight shudder passed over her as she she remembered Laurel. Shaking herself, Marin focused her attention back on the present as she slipped forward to the corner of the building and pressed herself flat against the wall.

Ittei looked over the man he killed and looked over at the sergeant, Marin, and the rest of their squad. "No comms on him."

"Not on mine either," the sergeant said as he looked around the corner for the moment. "Which is odd if they already knew about the carrier that Kure took out of play."

"Means they won't have a regular check-in," another Marine said as he took a look around as well. "Gives us time to move further in before these two are missed."

Frowning again, Marin closed her eyes for a moment and motioned forward and off to the left. "There is a group of three off to our left... roughly 300 meters. Seems like they are near some sort of checkpoint.."

Ittei pointed the three men out and nodded to them, followed by the three skirting around the building they were against to go further in. He then pointed to three others and motioned down the buildings on the opposite side of the street. Those three looked down the dirt path and checked for any indications of onlookers before they sprinted into cover on the other side.

"Let's move," he said as he led Marin and the rest along the path of the first team he had sent out.

A slight smile touched her lips as she watched the squads move out as directed. Checking her belt on pure reflex, she closed down her presence even more. Certainly, if there was a Force user about, they might have sensed her probe of the surrounding area. She hoped to _Manda_ there was not. Ittei's team moved forward without incident, not running into another patrol. They were close to the checkpoint within another couple minutes.

Ittei looked around the corner and up towards the tower before he turned around and thought about it for a second. "Guire, you and Dance are Sierra One now," he said over the comm.

 _"Copy that,"_ his sergeant said as he nodded to Dance, who started setting up one of the squad's sniper blasters.

"Chamers," Ittei said over the comm to a second group. "Barn on the south side was reported empty and no patrols around it. Take Lios with you and set up out of sight in the loft, you're Sierra Two."

 _"On our way."_ came the response as Ittei looked around the corner again.

Marin let her eyes drift closed as she visualized the different locations that Ittei was sending the squads to. The locations made sense to her, they were both good vantage points. That just left the squad she was with... and maybe one other. "What about us, sir?"

"We're going to circle around," the captain said as he looked over the small map of the town. "Marin, you know these people better than the rest of us. How strong is their resolve? If they realize that they're in a no-win, would they surrender?"

"No sir," she replied, her tone somewhat flat. "They believe very strongly in what they fight for and will fight to the last man...They don't surrender." She sighed, remembering Galan all too clearly... and Bestine.

Ittei sighed as well on that, then got on the comm again. "Okay, Marines, listen up. According to Durza, we're not going to have a peaceful solution. When they discover that they're against the wall, they're going to get dangerous. So, the first priority is the hostages. Sierra One and Two, you're on overwatch, but standby for action. L.T.?"

 _"Copy, cap,"_ his lieutenant called from the other side with his team.

"We've got one more roving patrol to deal with, then two separate groups. Hostages are the priority."

"Aye, Sir."

Chewing her lower lip, Marin took the few moments Ittei was on the comm to check her gear. She still didn't know if the _Kyr'tsad_ had a force user with them, but if they did, she hoped she was ready. No... she _knew_ she was. Coruscant had taught her that. Her saber was still secure in the holster she'd rigged to the back of her belt, and she had a few shuriken as well. She had hoped it might not come to this, but she also knew that Kyr'tsad were stubborn. Her senses told her exactly where the hostages were, and she would do everything possible to protect them.

* * *

For a long moment, Marin and Ittei studied the area, and she pointed out the last roving patrol. Unknown to them, this one, and one of the groups around the hostages' location did have a Force user among them. When they'd conferred once more, Ittei directed his squad to move out. He was in the lead, and Marin was close to the rear. She wasn't the last, though. He'd placed two of his best marines in that position, knowing she might need the extra cover.

They were perhaps two-thirds of the way to the hostages' location when they ran into the roving patrol. Instantly. The Marines closed ranks, though a few spread out to try and catch the _Kyr'tsad_ in the crossfire. For now, Marin kept her Force connection to the barest thread, praying they didn't have a Force user among them. She wasn't so lucky.

As bolts of orange blaster fire crisscrossed the clearing, one individual separated themselves from the rest of the group. Marin's attention was focused on the main group, her standard issue Marine blaster drawn and spitting coherent bolts towards the kyr'tsad. She downed two before she noticed the one who was moving away from the rest... and towards her. "Durza... watch your three o'clock..." a whispered warning came over the comm from Sergeant Guire.

The _Kyr'tsad_ patrol was doing their job well, keeping the Marines occupied with minimal losses so far as their ruus'alor circled around to directly target the Marines' force user. The intel they had on the Marines hadn't mentioned anything about Force Users, so she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to eliminate the threat. She was a full head taller than Marin, with highly practical _beskar'gam_ that was painted a matte black with no markings outside of the _Kyr'tsad_ sigil on each shoulder.

Upon getting close enough, she reached out with the force for a moment to pinpoint her desired target. Then, took a moment to carefully aim a silenced, slug-loading rifle, discharging a short volley of rounds at the Marines around Marin, aiming mostly for joints and weapons to quickly get them out of the fight, and thus out of her way.

" _Cap! Incoming!_ " Guire snapped from his vantage point up in the tower. As a unit, the squad dropped and scrambled towards what cover they could find. There wasn't much. Hissing a curse, Marin ducked behind a rock, Ittei next to her. One of the rounds had caught him in the leg. Her mouth set in a grim line, Marin tore at the inner lining of her tunic and pressed it into his hand. "Can you still fight?" His wordless nod was all she needed as he checked his power cell and carefully rolled to a semi-kneeling position. She spared him a glance then and gripped his shoulder before popping up over the rock to loose a spray of bolts in the direction of the enemy squad.

The instant Marin popped out, a pair of slugs whipped by on either side of her head. Not intended to kill, so much as test her abilities and willingness to use the force when pushed into a corner. But, they were more than close enough to be construed as near misses. The volume of fire from the rest of the patrol picked up, as well.

" _Kriff_..." Marin muttered, ducking back behind her cover again. Hesitantly, she reached out, subtly redirecting one of the slugs. it slammed into the ground mere inches from Ittei's boot, and he swallowed. " _Sorry_.." she hissed, watching the other slam into a tree a few feet behind them, throwing splinters of bark everywhere.

Her opponent caught the quick shift in the trajectory of the discharged slugs, and the older woman nodded to herself before repositioning slowly around to flank the Marines, sending a few rounds downrange whenever she had a clear shot.

The Marines were good. They'd sustained a few injuries, but they kept on, their aim never wavering. Most if not all of Ittei's older Marines knew who Marin was, and they would do whatever they could to protect her. Marin watched as two or three of the Marines moved off to pincer the _Kyr'tsad_. They were good. She barely saw their movement. Marin dropped and belly-crawled to the other edge of the boulder she crouched behind. Cautiously, she crept around the side and snapped off a couple shots before ducking under cover again.

Slowly, then, the _ruus'alor_ moved in calmly towards Marin, closing the distance as she emptied the last of her rifle's clip in rapid succession to keep those around her target in cover. As soon as the weapon was empty, however, she slung it and pulled a _beskad_ from the sheath on her belt, as well as a simple knife forged from a single piece of metal with no grip from a rack of similar weapons on the back of her belt. Then, she calmly leapt over Marin's cover, launching the knife at the first Marine to notice her as the _beskad_ arced towards Marin's head. The knife, however, sparked as it flew through the air, subtly hinting that something wasn't quite right.

Ittei hissed and dove sideways as the woman landed, slicing towards her leg with his own knife before he fired point blank at her. Marin meanwhile, ducked sideways, flicking her free hand as she tried to divert the knife from hitting Ittei. She did.. _barely_ , and the blade slammed into the ground a couple inches shy of his leg. Marin frowned. She'd seen the electricity coursing along the blade. She knew vibroknives were common... _but that.._. looked like something else. Her eyes narrowed, and she sucked in a deep breath as the _beskad_ scraped along her helmet and skittered off her combat armor, throwing sparks. For once, she was glad of it. If she had been wearing duty fatigues, she might have lost her arm. Twisting slightly, Marin pumped a few more bolts in the woman's direction and then followed it up with a thrown knife of her own.

Leaping and twisting, the woman contorted herself to avoid Ittei's assault, one of the bolts singing the plate on her right shoulder. In return, she launched a kick towards his head. More subtle, however, was a mass of force launched from her free hand intended to slam into his chest and get him out of the way. Several of Marin's bolts impacted with the woman's armor but did little damage outside of carbon scoring. The knife didn't even come close, with the woman altering its trajectory slightly almost as soon as it left Marin's hand.

" _Feth_.." Marin muttered, her eyes wide as she watched Ittei roll away with some difficulty. Marin narrowed her eyes, sensing the pull on the Force as the woman exerted herself to redirect Marin's the barest flick of her fingers, Marin's knife was soon back in her fingers. She watched as Ittei was knocked almost prone, the breath gone from his lungs for a moment. After a few seconds, he groaned and rolled to his knees with a grimace, slamming a fresh powercell into his weapon. Once he was steady, he carefully aimed at the woman, loosing several bolts towards her neck and knees. Areas he knew to be vulnerable in most armors.

Marin meanwhile, frowned and took a deep breath. She didn't dare close her eyes, but she breathed slowly, feeling calm wash over her. She'd not tried before, but she'd heard Callista speak often of releasing herself into the Force. She knew it could be dangerous. For now, Marin didn't release fully. She climbed to her feet and stood, moving away from where Ittei was.

Growling, the woman again twisted weirdly, sensing the trajectory of the incoming fire and placing herself in a position to only be skimmed by several of the bolts. In response, her free hand shot out towards the offender, and a moment later bright arcs of electricity burst from her fingers and palm towards the Marine.

Marin's eyes went wide, and she did the only thing she could think of. Lifting her free hand, she gestured sharply and dragged the woman away from Ittei with the Force. To his credit, Ittei didn't cry out. _Blessed Lady..._ He clenched his jaw and struggled to lift his carbine even amid the onslaught. Marin frowned and took another deep breath before lifting her left hand and Forcefully dragging the woman further away from him. In the next instant, she shoved hard with the Force, watching the woman stumble backward.

Growling fiercely at Marin's assault, the woman gritted her teeth and regained her footing after a moment. Standing firm, then, she curled her free hand into a fist and slammed it into the ground, a wave of Force rippling along the ground towards Marin with the intent to knock her off her feet. An instant later, a new torrent of lightning was being unleashed, this time with the full brunt focused on Marin.

The Force Wave did knock Marin off her feet. She tucked and rolled using the momentum to come back to her feet quickly. For a second or two, she wobbled unsteadily. It was then that the lightning slammed into her. _Sweet Lady..._ The force of it drove her to a knee, and she clenched her teeth against the pain. This hurt more than anything J'oran had ever done to her.

Smirking under her helmet, the woman kept up the assault as she closed steadily towards Marin, planning to keep her incapacitated until close enough.

A thought then occurred to Marin. This.. was quite similar to what J'oran and Beviin had done. They'd used pain to distract her. Slowing her breathing, Marin took a deep breath and cautiously opened herself to the Force more. For now, she stayed kneeling but drew more deeply on the Force. If she could redirect things... and make illusions, maybe she could do other things too. With some effort, Marin drew her hands together in front of her, cupping them as if she were holding an insect. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she began to draw the electricity into her, as if sucking it in through a straw. It felt strange, and she felt a prickle as the hair on her arms and neck stood on end. Between her palms, a ball of blue light manifested. It was the same energy the woman was using against her. With a deep breath and great effort, Marin took the energy mass and shoved it outwards towards her attacker, guiding it with the Force.

This, the woman wasn't expecting...and she swore viciously. Being forced to cease her assault, then, she focused herself and met the mass with her palm, being steadily shoved back as she attempted to absorb it in much the same manner.

Seeing this, Marin swallowed and increased her efforts. She wasn't used to the exertion, and only the fact she had opened herself to the Force as much as she could was keeping her on her feet. Narrowing her eyes, Marin pulled the woman sideways with the Force, and away from Ittei towards the middle of the clearing. They needed more space. She was sweating and could feel it prickling along her hairline. She kept her breathing as slow and even as she could, keeping both Steffan's lessons and her grandfather's at the front of her mind as she focused on the battle. She wasn't so focused on it that she lost track of the others, however.

Stumbling a bit from the forced change of position, the woman started muttering something under her breath and sheathed her beskad. Again calling on lightning, bright arcs emitted from both of her hands this time, only to meet in the middle and start forming a steadily growing sphere of sparking energy.

 _Kriff_... Marin's eyes widened and she took a step back for a moment, lifting her hands again as she prepared to ward off the attack. She wasn't quite sure what to do, and her lips thinned into a line.

It took several long moments, but eventually, the sphere was fully capable of engulfing an individual Marin's size. It was then that the woman hurled it towards her, calmly guiding it with the force in case Marin tried to dodge. It took a lot out of her, however, and she was visibly starting to show signs of exhaustion.

Marin's eyes widened, and she stepped backward, lifting her hands as she focused and attempted to redirect it. It was too much. The force of it knocked her backward, and she felt the energy slam into her. It took all her control to roll to her knees. Gritting her teeth, she breathed shallowly, feeling her body convulse. The sheer force of it caused her vision to go dim around the edges for a minute or so as she struggled to control it. She knew it might not be the easiest thing to do, but she let her eyes fall closed and sank even deeper into the Force.

A deep ragged breath helped her focus, and it took a few more before her eyes opened again. When they did, they glowed slightly. It wasn't something she'd tried before, and the sheer force of the energy coursing through her body left her gasping. Slowly, Marin pushed herself to her feet, even as the electricity danced over her. She took a deep breath, and slowly, the electricity vanished. Again, it manifested in her hands. She cupped her palms and gathered the energy and once more shoved it towards her opponent, drawing her blade a bit unsteadily as soon as the ball of energy had left her hands. The orange and black blade hissed to life between them, it's silvery sheen almost making it glint.

This elicited an even more violent string of curses from the woman, and she seemed to become a bit unhinged, her head twitching to the side every few seconds. In response to the redirected energy, she spat out more of her own, hitting the mass head on and causing them to combine and collapse in on itself, resulting in a rather violent shockwave out in all directions for several meters. It caught the woman full force, and she crashed heavily into a tree, splinters flying as her _beskar'gam_ bit into the obstacle.

Marin flew backward from the force of it, and barely managed to keep from slamming headfirst into a tree. As it was, she managed to soften her impact slightly. It still drove the breath from her lungs. When she finally climbed to her feet again, her vision swam for a moment. She took a few moments to glance around. The Marines wisely were keeping their heads down. She had no idea how many _Kyr'tsad_ they'd taken out, but she could see quite a few dark-armored forms lying still in the grass.

It took almost a minute, but finally, the woman stirred, groaning as she forcefully extracted herself from the tree she'd impacted. Still twitching, she stood slowly and drew her _beskad_ again before tearing off her damaged _buy'ce_ to glare at Marin. Blood was trickling slowly down one side of her face, but otherwise, she seemed visibly unharmed. She looked to be in about her mid-thirties, with extremely close-cropped blonde hair and blue eyes. In those eyes, however, there was nothing but hate for the young woman across the way.

This caused Marin to frown deeply. She couldn't understand why so many people she didn't know hated her so strongly. Marin's own saber rested in her left hand, the orange and black blade humming deeply. She stood a bit unsteadily, both from the attack and from the amount of energy she'd pulled into herself from the Force.

After a moment longer to steady herself, the woman charged back in, her beskad and free hand both crackling furiously with arcs of electricity as she prepared for a powerful swipe at Marin's chest.

 _'Krif..'_ Marin swore mentally, backpedaling a step or two. Her black-orange blade swept around to meet the woman's, and she gritted her teeth as she shoved the woman away with the Force.

Spinning slightly with the shove, she discharged a blast of electricity from her free hand at Marin's feet before settling back into a steady stance. Not letting up, she came right back in with a quick feint intended to force a block, at which point she'd discharge some of the electricity from her _beskad_ towards the younger woman's saber hand.

At the attack, Marin found herself stumbling slightly. Marin watched the woman's movements, and once again opened herself up to the Force. She could feel the intention, and instead of blocking, she dropped low and lunged, slashing at the woman's legs. The blade left a long, smoking gash across the leg plates.

Grimacing, the woman could feel the armor on her legs heating up from the strike and reacted by kicking hard at Marin's chest. Ignoring the pain to the best of her ability, she launched yet another charged swing.

Marin rolled hastily away and stiffened as she felt the blade pass through the air where she'd just been. As she rolled to her feet, she caught one or two of the marines creeping closer. For now, they kept low. But she knew they would be ready to do something.

Spitting a string of curses, the woman just kept advancing, swinging almost wildly twice before blasting lightning at her younger opponent again.

Marin was better now at deflecting it. With one hand, she absorbed it a bit, and then deflected it into the ground as she stepped forward and swung her blade in a short arc toward the woman's shoulder. While this was happening, Ittei and one of his Marines had crept around behind the woman. Ittei had a combat knife in his hand, and the other Marine had his carbine. As one, the moved. Ittei going for the vulnerable area behind the woman's knee with his knife, and his fellow Marine aiming several shots at the woman's back and neck.

Enraged as she was, the woman didn't even sense, much less see, anything except Marin. Her _beskad_ came up, neatly blocking the strike at her shoulder, and a short discharge of energy erupted from the blade around Marin's and into the younger woman's chest. But, an instant later the Marines' attacks hit, and she howled in pain as the knife found her knee. It crumpled under her weight, and she unintentionally fell under the shots aimed at her neck, only to have the one initially aimed at her back neatly make contact with the back of her skull. And so, she crumpled sideways even further, meeting the ground heavily.

The woman's attack hit, and Marin stumbled back in surprise, falling to one knee from the force of it before she slipped sideways as the adrenaline crashed


	8. Chapter 8

Ittei looked around the scene now that they had everything secured. A couple of his Marines were down and several more were injured. He had to hand it to this Death Watch...they knew how to put up a good fight. The medics that he had with the unit were seeing to the injuries amongst their own and with the colonists that may have been hurt, either before the rescue assault or during it.

"Anyone seen Durza?" he called out over the comm. He'd lost sight of her early on and, knowing of a possible Force-user in the enemy group, he was concerned.

* * *

Slowly, Marin rolled over and winced. Her helmet was cracked, and the electronics within were smoking and sparking slightly. With shaking fingers, she tried to pry the helmet off of her head, but she could barely lift her arms she was shaking so badly. It took a few more tries before she finally got the helmet off. The energy the other Force User had thrown at her was just... staggering, and the energy she's pulled into herself was almost as much. Gasping a curse, she rolled onto her side. The entire front of her armor was charred, and smoke still drifted from it.

"I thought she might have drifted over this way," Grier said as he started to walk through the area, keeping his eyes open. That's when he spotted the smoke. _"Captain, over here!"_

The sergeant sprinted over and carefully helped Marin sit up slightly. Pulling his canteen, he gave her a sip of water to help clear her throat. "Easy, easy... Damn, are you alright?"

As he helped her sit up, Marin coughed a few times as she tried to sip from the canteen. Slowly, she lifted a hand to her head and winced when it came away sticky with blood. "I... think so. Feeling a bit out of it, though. Can't really remember what happened." She frowned, and carefully set the helmet down beside her. "The other Force user... is she...?"

Grier looked over in that direction and winced slightly. "You know the old saying about 'seeing the other guy'?" He shook his head at that and looked back to where the others were at. "Medic! Over here."

Marin winced as well as her gaze tracked that way. "I really don't remember much of what happened, it's kind of a blur." Part of her wished that Master Karrde were here. He might be able to make some sense of it. But he wasn't. Swearing softly, she palmed around on the ground looking for her saber. Her saber. She'd finally gotten it back after Korriban. And she wasn't about to part with it. "I... think I'm ok. Just.. dizzy..."

"Just sit there for a moment," Ittei said as he made a motion with his hand to indicate the same thing before he got on the comm. "Shuttle and Havoc, this is Assault 0-1. Site is secure and we've got wounded here. Need a pickup and flash _Kure_ to prepare for injuries." He paused for a moment as he listened to the response from the flight crews while Grier handed Marin the rest of his canteen and helped her look around for her lightsaber.

Sighing softly, Marin nodded and remained sitting on the ground as she leaned forward to rest her forehead on her knees. It at least stopped the world from spinning for a few moments. Gratefully, she sucked down what remained of Grier's canteen. It took them a few moments more of looking, but finally, Marin spotted her saber laying in the grass several meters away. She pointed it out to Grier. When he came back with it, she asked softly as her gaze tracked to Ittei, "How are the hostages?"

"They're shaken up, several injured," he told her before lowering his head a bit. "They...executed the head of the colonists. To make a point, no doubt. Bastards..."

At that, she hissed a curse. "Did he have any family..." she whispered, her thoughts going to her own history.

"We don't know yet," Grier said as Ittei walked back over.

"Third group arrived in the system halfway into the fight," the captain said as he knelt down and took a pull of his own canteen. "They're sending down medivac shuttles from the hospital frigate now. We're detached from _Kure_ , they're heading out of system now. We'll be going onboard _Valkyrie_ and getting debriefed there." He shook his head with that bit of news. "Do things always escalate like this around you, Durza?"

At his question, she winced. "They.. always seem to..." she said quietly, not quite looking at him as her cheeks burned. "I... am not sure, but I think it might have something to do with the ...grudge which J'oran had against my family. Though how that might have been transmitted to the rest of the _Kyr'tsad_ cells, I don't know..."

"We'll see to getting the wounded, ours and the colonists alike, into the shuttles once they get here," Ittei said as he sat there for a moment longer. "Then, as I said, we'll debrief on the _Valkyrie_. Dang, I didn't think any other ships would show, but Rightman must have let them know about it when I told him what we were up against down here."

At that, her eyebrows rose slightly. " _Valkyrie_ is here...?" Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her racing pulse slightly. The adrenaline wasn't helping matters one bit. "Captain... what do you need from me right now?" She was still dizzy but didn't care. She wanted to be doing something.

"We're in stand down now," he told her. "The battlegroup mopped up what Kure left in orbit. Once we're relieved by the battlegroup's marine detachment, we head up. Simple as that."

"Aye..." she said softly as she turned her saber over in her fingers, in spite of the fact they were still shaking visibly. She wasn't sure if that was from the adrenaline, or from the sheer amount of energy she'd been dealing with.

Grier had picked up on her heightened sense when Ittei dropped the news on them. "You're going to be okay with going up to the ship?"

" _Lek_..." she whispered quietly, not realizing she'd slipped into _Mando'a_. "Just... haven't handled that much before... Force-wise or other..." she admitted after a moment to catch his eye.

* * *

" _Valkyrie_ Control, this is Strike One on approach," the shuttle pilot said as he led the other assault shuttle and the pair of gunships out into upper orbit towards the awaiting battlecarrier and elements of her group. "Flight of two AS-32s and two A-03s, requesting permission to land, over."

The flight up from the rally point where they picked up Ittei's marines was smooth. The medics and those that were injured remained on the surface while _Valkyrie_ was dispatching medical shuttles to pick them up and assist with any medical needs of the colony.

 _Valkyrie_ herself hung just outside the planet's gravitational influence with half of her battlegroup. Some of the remaining elements of her group were continuing the patrol route that they had been on while the remaining ships patrolled the outer edges of the system, watching for signs of additional pirate vessels that may show up if the group they had encountered called for help.

 _"Strike One, this is Control,"_ he heard back over the comm. _"You're cleared to approach portside forward hanger bay. Switch to 213.14 for Approach LSO."_

"Understood, Control. Switching now."

Marin gritted her teeth as she leaned her head back against the headrest of her seat. Ittei's medic had done what he could before the medevac shuttle had picked them up, but it still felt like Marin's nerve endings were on fire. Taking a deep breath, She turned her head carefully to look out one of the shuttle's viewports and gasped. _Valkyrie_ was huge, or so it seemed to her anyways

"Wonder why we're getting cleared for the forward hangar?" the copilot mused after they confirmed approach with the LSO and lined up with the markers in the hangar area that was always kept clear for approaching craft.

"Probably saving the aft hanger for the medical shuttles and setting up in case they need the room," the pilot said as he started their final leg. He reached over and let his hand rest of the repulsorlift controls while the copilot similarly let his rest on the lever that would lower the landing struts.

The cross chatter was comforting in a way. And it helped Marin relax, if only a bit. She sat up a bit straighter so she could get a better view of the ship as she filled the viewports. She had to admit, she was curious to find out what the differences might be between it and _Kure_. Not that she'd admit it. And she could hear Ethan's chiding tone in her memory.

 _"Too much ship than I would know what to do with,"_ he had said when she had asked him about elements of the Cataani Fleet. _"Maybe not as big that those old Impstar Dueces, but they're still practically a city all to themselves."_

It made sense now, as the shuttle entered the magcon field of the forward hangar. The landing area was massive, looking like even a large ship like hers would be able to land in the area.

The shuttle was on repulsorlifts now, the pilot following the motions of one of the deck personnel that was directing them around towards the zone outside of the approach lanes. There, he went to a marked area that was designated for them and gently set the shuttle down.

Marin smiled slightly at the memories. While he was her guardian, there were still times she found him to be infuriating. But, such was the nature of it, she mused. Turning slightly in her seat, she watched as the shuttle settled to the deck. When she felt it stop moving, she stood carefully and hoped no one saw the pained expression.

"Okay everyone," Ittei called as he stood up in the troop area. "Disembark, but stay near the hatch until we're clear on where we're being quartered."

The group slowly climbed out. As Marin did, she got her first real look into the hangar area. Just behind where the shuttle parked were two lines of Nighthawks staggered spaced apart in holding areas, facing towards the outside of the ship. In front of them were large doors that were closed except for two. Those had a pair of fighters waiting there, the pilots sitting nearby at a table passing time.

Overhead, looking over the entire area, she glanced and saw a control room that was encircled by windows that afforded them a complete view of not just the hanger area, but the opened area where she noticed the gunships that flew with them starting to come in through the magcon field.

Her eyes were wide in surprised excitement as she looked around. It took all of her control not to hiss in pain as she made her way toward Ittei.

Ittei had been talking with another Marine, this one in an on-duty jumpsuit instead of fatigues when Marin walked up to the captain. That was enough to let her draw the conclusion that he was part of the ship's Marine attachment.

"Durza," Ittei said as he acknowledged her walking up to them. "I'll get one of the others to grab your gear and take it to your bunk that we've just been assigned. I want you to follow this officer to medical to get checked out."

"Lift is over in this direction, Captain," the lieutenant gestured towards the end of the bay that was along the centerline of the ship. "The Major is in CIC right now with Admiral Payne. He said you could go on up and debrief them both."

"Captain." Marin acknowledged to Ittei for a moment after she listened to his instructions. She knew she probably looked a mess right now, but she didn't care. And she felt like _osik_. Her combat gear was covered in carbon scoring and deep scratches, and her helmet's faceplate was cracked. She wouldn't be too surprised if she had plasteel shards embedded in her cheeks. For a moment, she chewed on her lip and just tried to breath. But even that hurt. Another nod to Ittei and she turned to follow the other officer towards the lift. She was still trying to sort out what the _feth_ had happened.

She was directed onto a bed in the nearly-empty bay after she checked in with one of the orderlies. She was still trying to get onto it without making it hurt more when a familiar voice started to say something.

"Here, let me," one of the medics said as she approached and started to help her up. Then the medic saw who she was helping and stopped suddenly. "Marin? What happened?"

It was Catharine.

For an instant, Marin froze as recognition set in. Marin bit down hard on her lip and then sighed in frustration as she leaned against the edge of the bed. Her arms were not cooperating at all. She looked up rather quickly and instantly regretted it as her head throbbed. "Catharine...?" she whispered, her voice surprised. She'd almost forgotten that Master Karrde's youngest daughter had joined the Cataani Navy as a medic.

Marin winced slightly and frowned. "I'm still trying to make sense of it. We.. had gone out on a training exercise, and gotten a distress call from a nearby colony.."

"I'd say you got more than you bargained for on that exercise," Catharine said as she started to pick up a scanner interface off the wall above Marin's head. "Let's get started."

"You're already going?" another voice called from one of the other bays.

"You're fine, flyboy," Catharine said without looking in that direction. "And I already told you, not interested."

"Come on, Trouble," the pilot's squadmate said while trying to contain her laughter. "Before you get into any more."

Marin winced and nodded, though her mouth turned up ever so slightly at the tone from the other bay. "Seems you have a few admirers.." she said quietly. as she finally managed to leverage herself up onto the bed. Just that alone had her biting back a curse. Her voice was almost a whisper as she lifted her gaze to Catharine again. "When we got to the colony, we found them being raided... But not for supplies..." her voice hardened. "They were taking prisoners." She swore under her breath. "At first, we thought they were pirates... but once we got dirtside, we found out otherwise."

"We managed to make our way closer to the village before a patrol got the drop on us. We spread out and then engaged. "I was trying to close myself off to the Force... but I was also trying to keep tabs on the hostages.." Her voice went hard. "Catharine... they were _Kyr'tsad_..."

This caused Catharine to turn from what she was doing and look at her. "The same ones you've been going up against?" she asked, getting a nod from Marin in return. "Oh my... Alright, lay still. We're going to do a medscan and see how bad you're hurt. This may take a moment."

"Okay..." Marin said as she sat carefully on the edge of the bed. "One of them... was a force user." She swore softly. "I have never faced a challenge like that ... _ever_.." she admitted after a moment

"I wouldn't know much, really, about that," Catharine answered as she finished up the scan. "I'm the only one of the family that can't touch that power. Even mother, though only slightly, has more ability to do that."

She took a moment to look over everything before she continued. "No major internal injuries, thankfully. But you do have a few broken ribs and bruised muscles to go along with those burns. Looks like some plasteel shards in your cheek as well. Your helmet must have taken a hit. Lucky you had it on, that impact might have killed you otherwise. A bacta treatment will be able to handle most of that, but I'd like to pull those shards out before I put you in the tank."

Nodding, Marin took a breath to steady herself. "It could have been a lot worse.." she said softly. A moment to chew on her lower lip and she sighed softly. "I know they have employed Force users in the past. But we had no idea one was even present until we ran into them." A frown crossed over her face for a moment. "Whenever we get back to Cataan, I'll want to speak to your father, and probably Ethan about it. They might have insight I don't."

"Right now, you just need to focus on healing," Catharine told her as she walked over to take a few instruments out of a compartment next to the bed and started to set up to remove the shards. Once she was ready, she instructed Marin to lean back and started to remove them as easily as she could.

"I know..." she said softly and took a deep breath as she laid back onto the bed, with her hands down beside her. It wasn't easy to relax. Not when she knew what could have happened. But it hadn't. A deep breath and then another one as she tried to let go of the anxiety. After a few moments, her breathing had evened out somewhat, and she focused on remaining still.

In a short while, Catharine had all of the shards removed and helped Marin off of the bed and moved to a different part of the bay that held the bacta tanks. With her assistance, she had Marin in the tank for a short session.

"That treatment will help out," she said as she helped Marin get into a fresh duty jumpsuit that was usually kept in stock for this reason, and there was one that fit her well. "But I definitely want you to rest and give it a chance to do its job."

"I'll have to find where they assigned me a bunk.." she said after a moment. "Captain Ittei said they'd done so, and that another of the Marines would move my gear." She frowned for a moment before her fingers found Jarius' dog tags. She had worn then on the mission, and she was glad she had, for she found it comforting. "Thank you, Catharine.." she said softly.

"Just part of my job," Catharine answered with a smile. "Come on, I'll find out where they've assigned you and help you over there."


	9. Chapter 9

_**Valkyrie – Forward Hangar**_

"I've checked the port rudder thruster three times," the of the chief's said for the - he'd forgotten how many times he'd said it now - as he and this particular Nighthawk's pilot were at the rear of the fighter sitting on the flight line of the hangar deck. "Everything is clear and I even replaced the prefire nozzle assemblies before your last hop."

"And I'm saying that she's _still_ drifting to port," Lieutenant Stryker said as he nodded to the area on the fighter. "Had my feet off the the pedals, even, and she's drifting a degree to port every few seconds."

"Look," Commander Wes Dannic said, standing there with them. "How long would it take to pull the assembly and throw in a new one?"

"Half hour, maybe," the chief said, not looking forward to an additional chore on top of his crew's already overloaded maintenance schedule. And it was going to be shift change soon, as well.

"Then do it," Wes said as he looked over the flight line. "You can pull the thing apart and check every inch of it. If its something that can't be repaired and put into reserve here, then we can decide to scrap it later."

It took Marin a few minutes to work her way to the hangar from her cabin. She still wasn't used to the ship's layout. She was taking it slow as Catharine had advised, but she couldn't stay still forever. She needed to do _something_. And yet, she knew she'd probably strain something in the process. Shaking her head at her own stubbornness, Marin kept a hand to the bulkhead for a moment to steady herself before she stepped into the hangar itself. She was used to the flurry of activity, so it was a bit disconcerting for her to see the pilots standing around one of the Nighthawks. After a moment's thought, she moved a bit stiffly towards one of the Marine shuttles and found herself a few meters of clear space where she started to slowly work through some of her knife drills. Her movements were slow, and a bit stiff as she tried to mind her injuries. Even so, her gaze wandered back to the Nighthawks every so often.

"Go ahead and grab your gear," Wes said as the chief started to grab a few techs to pull the thruster. "Once they've got everything back into place and ready, take it out on a hop and make sure everything's in order. I want the squadrons at one hundred percent before we leave the system."

"Aye, captain," Stryker said as he half-saluted and started to make his way towards the Blackhawk's locker room. Wes was behind him, heading for the lift entrance when he saw movement off to his side. He turned and saw Marin there among the marine shuttles. "What are you doing there, Marine?" he called as he walked over. "How long have you been over here?"

At his question, Marin paused. "Pardon, Sir?" Her gaze flicked briefly to the rank on his collar to make sure she was addressing him properly. She then straightened slightly and offered him a salute after lowering her knife to point at the deck with her left hand. "I got tired of sitting still, so I thought maybe working through some knife drills would help." She frowned for a moment. "I was one of the Marines picked up by _Valkyrie's_ medevac shuttles yesterday." she told him by way of explanation. She was still feeling quite stiff, and the exercise had left her slightly out of breath. But then, she wasn't terribly surprised, given that she had several broken ribs.

Wes nodded at this, seeing now that she was probably not that familiar with the ship. He looked over her uniform and noticed that there wasn't any patches, insignia, or even a name patch on her top. "Even for a new recruit, your uniform would already be following regs," he said, though not in a dressing down manner. "How, exactly are you attached to this group, again?"

Marin blushed ever so slightly and thought for a moment. _'Rightman had accepted her readily enough, so why not...'_ She looked right at Wes. "Well, It's a bit of an unusual situation, really." She chewed on her lip for a moment. "I do believe we have actually met once before, Sir. My name is... Marin Durza. I'd attached to Captain Ittei's squad for advanced tactical training following my studies at Mt. Adan. My guardian and Master Karrde thought it would serve me well, considering my other skills." She looked down for a moment. "I do apologize for my lack of proper uniform... Been feeling dizzy and out of sorts since yesterday."

" _Durza_..." Dannic said softly, looking off to the side and drawing upon the memory. It had been a long time since he'd heard that name. "You'd be Jarius' daughter, then?"

He saw her simply nod at his question and he lowered his head for a moment. He turned and saw a few crates nearby and he moved towards them and leaned on one. "It's been a while since I've thought about him. He was a good man."

Marin smiled softly. "He was. It's still hard for me to believe he's gone, sometimes." She took a moment to tuck her knife back into one of the custom sheaths on her uniform belt. It still felt.. strange for her to be here aboard _Valkyrie_. There was silence between them as she considered what to say. "You told me once how you'd met him." she said quietly as she slipped Jarius' tags from around her neck, holding them firmly in her fingers as her thumb traced slow circles over the engraving. She found the action calming.

"Seems like forever," he said as he recalled the story. "I was still a lieutenant, flying as a wingman going over an uninhabited planet when one of my engines blew. No warming; just started to suddenly build up pressure in the reaction chamber. Next thing I knew, part of my fighter had blown apart. I was lucky enough to eject, but got caught up in the thick forest cover and broke a few bones when I finally hit the ground. Forest was too thick and heavy for rescue shuttles to land anywhere nearby. Kinda funny, but we had a group of recon marines on training exercises with us and they were sent in."

She smiled, remembering when he'd initially told her the story. She and Ethan had traveled to Edmonton, not long after Jarius' burial, and had found Wes and several other pilots and Marines in the Warrior's Rest tapcafe. "Fortuitous," she said softly, catching his eye for a moment. Perhaps she enjoyed listening to stories such as this from people who had known him because she'd never really gotten the opportunity to hear such stories from Jarius himself. Turning the tags over in her fingers with practiced ease, she wondered briefly if she should tell him about what had happened during her own mission.

"So are you following in his footsteps?" he asked as he looked over at her. "You mentioned Master Karrde, so I wasn't sure."

She chuckled a bit at that. "I suppose I am, after a fashion. Ethan and Master Karrde put together a sort of... exchange program. And somehow managed to get the officer in charge of personnel to sign off on it." She shook her head slightly, remembering her initial reaction. "I think... the point of it was to expose me to new tactics ...and take me out of my comfort zone... a lot. Which it has most certainly done so." She gestured with her right hand to her fatigues. "Part of it... was to go all in. Uniform, training, everything." She smiled. "Can't say that I mind it. And, I think in a way that it's helping me to understand who my father was a bit more."

"I still feel that I owe Jarius," Wes said as he nodded at her explanation of things. "Its good to have you here with it then, Private."

"Captain," Stryker said as he walked up, in his flight gear now. "They're finishing everything up and..." he spotted Marin standing there. "Well, hello again."

Marin grinned slightly, remembering briefly the exchange she'd heard in Medical. She wasn't sure if it had been Stryker or not. "Good to see you again." She offered him a nod, feeling a bit self-conscious about being out of regulation in regards to her uniform. She was usually very meticulous. After a moment, she worked her wrist around slowly, biting down on a curse as the strained muscles protested. "Just down here trying to get back up to form. _Don't tell Catharine_..." she finished in a whisper. "I'm supposed to be resting."

"Too bad," Stryker said as he glanced over at the Nighthawk. "Wouldn't mind an honest opinion on how the repair work is holding up."

"She's not flight certified and you know it," Dannic said as he shook his head. "And even if she wasn't in recovery, it's against flight regs."

"And, yet, you sound as if you thought about it, skipper."

"Trouble," Dannic threw back, using Stryker's callsign and shaking his head. "You _assured_ me, no more shenanigans."

"I said I'd _curtail_ them," Mark said in innocent defense, but using an accent unfamiliar to Marin. It caused the senior officer to shake his head even more. "I never said anything about stopping them entirely."

Marin tried very hard to look disappointed, but she caught the gleam in Stryker's eyes. She bit down on her lower lip for a moment. In some ways, he reminded her a bit of Ethan. She wasn't entirely sure why, though. Marin coughed slightly as she tried not to laugh, and then winced. "Captain... would there be any harm in me ... just looking..?" she said after a moment. She decided not to mention the fact that flying a Nighthawk had always been a dream of hers. _Perhaps someday_.

Dannic looked between them. Marin thought she might have seen a bit of a twinkle in his eye as the thought about it.

"I don't have a problem with her looking over it," he said slowly. "I'll even clear her sitting and seeing how both the pilot and SIO seats feel. But, she's going to need something other than those jarhead fatigues if she's going to be around one of our fighters."

He looked out on the flight line and spotted another from the squadron. "Raz?"

"Yes, sir?" another lady in a flight suit similar to Striker's asked as she joined the group.

"Escort Private Durza to the locker and see that she's got a flight suit to help Trouble inspect his Nighthawk."

"Sir...?" she asked in slight confusion, looking over at Stryker with an expression that seemed to Marin that she'd given it to him way too often, having assumed it almost instantly.

"You heard right, Raz." Stryker said with a smile as he started to walk towards his fighter.

Rosalyn raised an eyebrow at him, before peering closely at him. After a moment, she straightened rather abruptly and saluted. "Yes, sir. Right away." She gestured Marin to follow after a moment, muttering something about Trouble and his pristine fighter. When they were out in the corridor, She turned to Marin. "Come on then. What the Captain wants, he gets. I'm sure we have _something_ that will fit you..." she eyed Marin for a moment just before ducking through a hatch to the right and waving Marin inside.

For her part, Marin was rather confused. "Excuse me... Raz?" Marin asked as she peered around the pilot's locker area.

"Yeah?" Rosalyn responded after a moment.

"Do I really need a flightsuit?"

Rosalyn shrugged. "Like I said before, what the Captain wants, the Captain gets. I learned not to argue when he gets like that. Besides, wouldn't want to mess up your fatigues..." she told Marin with a wink before she turned to look through a couple of the lockers. There were her own, of course. And there was one other woman in the squadron. Rosalyn tapped her chin for a moment before ducking around a corner and digging through a supply cabinet that held stacks of spare flightsuits. After a moment, one hit Marin square in the chest. "Try that one..." she said firmly, before standing back to observe.

Marin raised an eyebrow at that, feeling like there was something going on. But she chose not to comment. If Captain Dannic insisted she wear a flight suit to inspect the Nighthawk, she wasn't going to argue. Most especially because it had been a dream of hers to fly one. _Perhaps one day._ She changed slower than she would have otherwise, trying to be mindful of her healing ribs, and the still-healing burns that covered her neck and torso.

Rosalyn clicked her tongue in disapproval when she saw the slightly faded burn marks. "Looks like you got worked over pretty good. You were with the Marine detachment we evacced from the planet yesterday?"

Marin nodded. "Yeah. We'd gone in to check on a distress signal. Turned out, that what we originally thought were pirates... was, in fact, Death Watch." She saw Rosalyn pause for a moment.

"Didn't they get cleared from Galan a few years back?"

Marin nodded again. "Yeah... but seems they're pushing in again. Getting bolder." She shook her head as she carefully worked the flightsuit up along her torso and slid her arms into the sleeves before shrugging into it the rest of the way. It was a decent fit. In fact, it was only slightly large on her. Rosalyn gave her a once-over before nodding as Marin continued. "We went in to check it out and ran afoul of one of their roving patrols.. which happened to have a Force user. Naturally... they zeroed in on me..." Marin sighed heavily, poking at the healing cuts on her face.

"Well, if you're still here to talk about it, I'd say you did pretty well." Rosalyn told her before lightly squeezing Marin's shoulder. "Come on, let's not keep them waiting."

Prankster that he could be, Stryker was all business when it came to making sure that his fighter was ready to go and was finishing up his pre-flight walk around as he saw Raz and Durza walking towards them. "Ladies," he said in greeting as he checked a few places along the forward fuselage. "I'll be with you in a few moments."

"Take your. time smartass," Raz said as she walked Marin up towards the ladders that led up to the two-seat cockpit.

Marin just shook her head at the cross talk. As she neared the ladder, she rested a hand on the safety railing and took a moment to just study the craft up close. It brought back memories. She could hear the roar of the engines as the four craft streaked by over the cemetery in Edmonton. Shaking herself, she then climbed the ladder a bit slower than normal. She was still trying to be mindful of her ribs.

"Right," Striker said as he gestured towards the pilot's area. "Anything you're wanting to know right off?"

Marin tilted her head slightly, frowning as she leaned on the fuselage. Ostensibly to get a closer look, but in reality, she was catching her breath. Not that she'd admit that to him in a million years, though. "There are two seats here. I know the forward one is for the pilot, but what's the other one?" She shrugged a bit. "Used to X-wings and the like."

"We call it SIO," he told her as he motioned for her to look into that part of the cockpit. "Short for Sensor-Intercept Officer. The Nighthawk has several scanners and sensors combined into one suite and it's their job to operate it. Along with helping me keep track of other fighters and ships in the area, they can also relay what we're picking up with _Valkyrie's_ CIC to create a bigger picture of the tactical situation. They'll also keep an eye on the fighter's systems, but that's primarily the astromech's responsibility."

"I see. It makes sense. Less for the pilot to have to worry about that way..." she said, before bracing her hands on the fuselage to peer at the darkened console's in the SIO seat for a moment before her gaze slid to Striker. She gestured to the pilot's seat. "May I?" She knew she might be pushing her luck with that one, but figured it was worth asking anyway.

He slightly moved out of the way so she could look into the pilot's area. "I can pull up the same scanner readings on the right display. The left gives me all relevant navigation data while the center will give me overall conditions of the fighter, shields, power levels, and so forth. Right under that is weapons status."

She nodded, filing that information away as she continued to study the various consoles for a moment. "Do you mind if I...?" She trailed off and gestured at the pilot's chair. She stuffed her other hand into the pocket of her coverall, trying not to fidget nervously. She'd left most of her gear in the pilot's locker, save for her saber, which was clipped to one of the loops on her flightsuit.

Striker nodded. "Everything is shut down, so it'll be okay. We're not even hooked into the aux power for maintenance."

She gave him a nod, and then braced herself carefully on the Nighthawk's fuselage before she levered herself over it and dropped somewhat heavily into the pilot's seat. Only her gritted teeth kept her from cursing at the pain which spiked from her ribs. She sat still for a moment, and took a slow breath, hoping he didn't notice.

"I'm sure you've flown some kind of craft before, so the flight controls are pretty self-explanatory. The buttons will control different functions, depending on which one you're curious about."

She raised an eyebrow at him and for a moment, simply focused on getting her breathing back under control. Then, she took a moment to study the controls she was not familiar with. "I've flown freighters mostly. Sadly never really got the chance to fly anything smaller," she admitted as she pointed to a couple of buttons on the control stick that wasn't familiar. "What are these?"

He leaned over to see where exactly she was looking, then nodded. "To keep from having to reach the comm panel every time we need to communicate, the thumb button on the side of the stick keys the transmitter. The larger vertical slider switch in the middle controls arming of the weapon systems. Torpedoes are fired with the left thumb, any special pod weapons with the right. Blaster cannons are fired using the trigger."

Marin nodded. "Makes a lot of sense - and keeps everything within easy reach... which is important during combat." Not that she'd had all that much experience with ship-to-ship combat, but she had some at least. And she was thankful that her helmet's systems could interface with _Tracinya_. It simplified things.

"The information these screens give is important, but usually can't look down during a hostile confrontation," he said as he gestured to a setup that sat on top of the instrument assembly. "This displays everything we need to know so we don't have to. Flight heading, speed, weapons crosshairs, target identification."

"Heads up display..?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Her helmet interface functioned in a similar manner.

"Exactly," he said with a sly smile. "You're catching on quick."

She grinned at him. "I've used a similar setup before, when I fly," she told him. "I find it incredibly helpful. Makes me glad that _Tracinya_ could work with the system."

" _Tracinya_?" he asked. "What kind of ship is that?"

Marin chuckled a bit. "It's a YT-1930...Was my father's ship. I don't even want to _think_ about the number of modifications that had to be done to make that system work..."

"Wow..." he said as he motioned for her to climb out of the seat. She didn't see it until she climbed out, but there was some additional pieces of equipment and a helmet sitting on the ladders now and it got her attention.

Marin grinned slightly at that reaction. "It's an old ship. But she's held together well..." After a moment, she hopped up out of the seat before carefully leveraging herself back over the fuselage. She was determined to not let Stryker see how much pain she was in. But she had a feeling he could tell. She didn't much care. As she saw the helmet sitting on the ladder her eyes widened, and her gaze tracked back to Stryker for a moment.

"Raz," Stryker said with his usual lopsided grin as he started to get ready to climb into the cockpit, "Get the nugget ready to fly. I've got to start the checklist."

For a moment, Rosalyn just stared at him like he'd grown a second head. Then she blinked and cleared her throat. "Right." She climbed the access ladder two rungs at a time to grab the equipment. Then, she gestured Marin down off the ladder. When Marin was standing in front of her, Rosalyn looked the young woman over, noting the particular set of Marin's jaw. She shook her head slightly at Marin before lightly squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. Once she straightened, she began getting Marin situated with the rest of the gear. At each step, she would pause and make sure it was adjusted properly for her slightly smaller frame. And finally, she gently settled the flight helmet on Marin's head, letting her adjust it until it fit snugly. Rosalyn grinned, and gave Stryker a thumbs up. "She's good to go."

"Get her familiar with the back seat," he called from the cockpit. "I don't know where that lazy SIO of mine is at, he's supposed to be here and so I'm having to take a nugget up with this check flight."

Rosalyn shook her head and grumbled. "Want me to wash and wax your canopy while I'm at it?"

"Only if you wear that swimsuit I saw in your drawer on our last base-call," she heard, nearly making her jaw hit the deck.

"You **_what_**?!" Rosalyn glared murderously, and for a moment, she considered taking a swing at him. But then she thought better of it. Best not to get herself written up right now, given what they were doing. Shaking her head at him, she shot back, "Oh yeah... what about those holomags I see you stuffing in a corner whenever I walk by, huh?" She smirked at him and then gestured Marin to precede her up the ladder. When she had, Rosalyn was a mere step behind her, muttering about men under her breath.

Marin looked back and forth between them, trying to hide a smile. It still hurt to breath somewhat, but it was slowly easing. When she reached the top of the ladder, Rosalyn leaned over past her and began pointing out the various consoles and describing their functions as best she could. Thankfully, Marin was a relatively quick study with this as she was with most things. After a moment, Marin carefully hoisted herself up and over the fuselage, managing to _not_ fall in a heap in the rear seat. She had to clench her hands in her lap for a moment and just breathe.

"Launch Control, this is Blackhawk Nine," Stryker called after he started up the fighter's internal power. "Requesting clearance for check flight."

 _"Blackhawk Nine, standby."_

"Nine copies," he answered as he continued working through the checklist. Raz was still getting Marin situated in the rear seat, so he had a moment once he completed the last items.

Rosalyn pointed out a few more things, murmuring instructions to Marin before she patted the young woman on the shoulder and made a show of making sure Marin's crash webbing was snug. A tap on Stryker's shoulder was next - perhaps a bit harder than was necessary. "She's ready to go." With that, Rosalyn scrambled back down the ladder and gave Stryker a thumbs up.

Marin grinned, watching the slightly older woman for a moment before she gave her own thumbs up. She was feeling a bit nervous but also excited at the same time. She took a moment to just breathe, her fingers almost absently playing with the chain to the second set of tags that she always wore. And she didn't much care if Stryker saw. She'd give almost anything for her father to have been here to see this.

Stryker, having just received clearance from the tower, signaled the ground tech that was waiting with the tow cart and held up his hand to indicate the number 3 launch tube. Within moments, the fighter was towed towards the entrance as he started warming up the engines.

" _Hey_!" a voice shouted as another rushed towards them. "Trouble! What are you doing?"

"Check flight," Stryker yelled back.

"But I'm still suiting up!" the other squadron member hollered in protest. "You didn't even tell me the bird was ready!"

"Got it covered," he answered with a thumbs up. "Don't worry, I'm not cheating on you."

Marin just stared for a moment, feeling the surprise... and a hint of indignation ripple off of the other squadron member as she felt their gaze settled on her helmeted form. For her part, Marin was rather focused on her own checks while the Nighthawk was being pulled into position. She'd just finished when she felt the heavy clunk of the launch catapult locking into place.

Stryker flipped two switches and brought the rear canopy down over Marin, followed by the forward canopy. He waited a moment to get the notice on one of his panels that everything had sealed. "Launch Control," he called on the comm. "Blackhawk Nine, two lit and green, all systems cleared, ready for launch."

A moment after his announcement to the launch officer, he saw in his aft view that the doors were closing behind him. They were thick reinforced durasteel with a ceramic alloy coating. Not only did it seal the hangar off from the vacuum that would soon fill the launch tube, but it protected against the heat of the engine thrust that was about to hit it.

 _"Nine, launch clearance granted. Cat armed. Throttle up and signal with ready."_

"Copy," Mark said as he started to run the engines up to full power before he looked back to his passenger. "You all set back there?" he asked her with a grin.

At his question, Marin grinned. "Yes, sir." She wasn't quite sure how to address him at the moment, given the situation. But, there was no denying that she was enjoying every second. Her gaze flicked to her consoles as she kept an eye on the readings.

"There's a grip at the top of your console," he told her as he gave the launch officer outside a thumbs up and a salute. "You might want to grab it and hold on."

She would be flat out lying through her teeth if she'd tried to tell him she wasn't at least somewhat... _terrified_. She'd never been out in a craft this small. But, she could also feel the adrenaline rush of anticipation. At his comment, Marin merely nodded and checked her crash webbing one more time to make sure it was snug before she did just that. Then, she let out a breath, trying to keep focused. As fun as this might be, she was still functioning as SIO for him and wanted to do that justice.

She gripped it just in time as a moment after his advice, they were both pressed into their seats as the launcher's rail system instantly accelerated the fighter nearly to its maximum speed. Within what felt like less than a few seconds, they were in open space. Mark throttled back to cruising speed and brought the fighter around in a gentle arch to parallel _Valkyrie_. After a check-in with the ship's flight control, he started to ease the fighter away so they had room to check out the repairs.

"Still with me back there?" he asked as he turned to look behind him.

In response, Marin gave him a somewhat shaky thumbs up. But she was grinning. "What a rush..." she told him breathlessly. "Never really had an opportunity to fly small craft before, just ships like _Tracinya_." She let out a breath then and checked over her consoles for a moment as she tried to track the level indicators that Rosalyn had told her to watch for.

"Well, seems likes everything's holding together in these cruising maneuvers we're working through," he said as he paid close attention to how the fighter was flying. "Now let's see how she _truly_ holds up."

Before she knew it, he slammed the throttles to full power again and put the fighter into a tight smuggler's reverse.

Reflexively, Marin grabbed for the handhold once more but missed as the sudden acceleration pressed her back into her seat. The suddenness of it caused her to feel lightheaded for a moment. As she noticed this, Marin focused on her breathing, trying to keep it as deep and even as possible. Which was by no means a simple task; given the sudden rush of adrenaline into her system once more. And for once, she was glad of the various training she'd had when she was younger. While nothing had quite prepared her for something like _this_ , she found that she was able to hold focus enough to help clear the dizzy feeling. And of course, she didn't really want to have to go back to the med bay because he'd made her lose the contents of her stomach during his check flight.

"Hang on," Mark said, completely in his element now as he stood up the fighter up and, using the variable-vector ability of his fighter's engines, started some of the tightest barrel rolls Marin thought she'd ever experienced before he leveled and started to peel away into a tight vertical climb.

This time, Marin managed to grab the handhold with her fingertips. The g-forces pulling at her from the sudden change in direction caused dark spots to dance at the edge of her vision for a moment. She recalled having done similar maneuvers with _Tracinya_ years ago. But the g-forces here in the Nighthawk were much more apparent, given that a ship of Tracinya's size would be more able to compensate. She took a slow breath and closed her eyes for a second to try and quell her stomach trying to rebel. She had a feeling he would not be amused. Though, he seemed to be rather enjoying the opportunity to show off for someone outside the squadron.

Stryker put the fighter through a few more maneuvers before he leveled off and looked back towards Marin with a grin on his face. "So, what do you think of your first flight?"

It took a moment for Marin to let go of the grab bar. But when she did, she tried to rather nonchalantly check her panels. When she did respond, she had to take a slow breath. Her pulse was pounding in her ears from the adrenaline rush. "Never experienced any like it before..." she responded, even as she tried to calm her racing pulse. "It's quite a rush."

"It's actually easier than it normally would be," he said as he checked over all his readings. "Looks like that replacement did the job."

At that, Marin eyed him for a moment. "Was the replacement better than the previous part?" she asked curiously.

"Just a fresh unit," he told her. "That other one had been acting up after the last time we flew a combat op. I'd been on the chief about it for a little bit."

"Makes sense..." She replied after a moment with a nod. "Like anything else, the parts wear out, and have to be replaced after a while."

Stryker started to make a gentle turn in towards the ship. "I overdid it on some of those maneuvers, but I wanted to make sure the bird was in top shape before the next time there's a scrap."

Marin grinned then. "Much as I would want to do the same with any of my weapons or gear." She was glad that she'd managed to keep her head... and not lose her lunch on the inside of his Nighthawk. She knew Rosalyn would have been amused.

After a few more maneuvers, Marin saw Stryker turn back towards _Valkyrie_ She was glad because the adrenaline coursing through her was causing her hands to shake slightly. Much like they would when she drew heavily one the Force. She hoped he hadn't noticed. Or if he did, that he wouldn't say anything about it.

Stryker brought the Nighthawk smoothly into the open landing area and started powering everything down while they were waiting for the crews to move it back into the squadron's designated area. "Oh, by the way," he said as he started to open the canopy. "If they ask why you're back there, it was all _your_ idea."


End file.
